Soviet Union 1991

(Second update)

An Indian delegation composed of defense ministry officials flew all the way from New Delhi to visit a Ukrainian shipyard to visit the Kiev-class aircraft carrier. At this time, the Gorshkov had been decommissioned from the navy and was parked at the Black Sea Shipyard in Ukraine for refitting. plan.

The Gorshkov has only been in service for less than five years, so it looks much newer than the second-hand aircraft carriers that Indian officials believe, and after simple renovation and maintenance work at the Black Sea Shipyard, Gorshkov The Husband is like a beautiful ship for sale, waiting to be visited by Indian officials.

Standing on the deck of the Gorshkov, the Indian delegation seemed to feel the powerful impact of this steel monster created by the Soviets. The completely different design concept from the Virat made this aircraft carrier look more... Like a steel behemoth, it is simple, rough and practical, and the anti-ship weapons and turrets it carries give people the illusion that this aircraft carrier is not a platform used to park fighter jets and form combat effectiveness for the aircraft carrier fleet, but a pure aircraft carrier. Maritime offensive weapons.

Just like Marshal Gorshkov of the Soviet Union after whom this aircraft carrier is named, the Kiev-class aircraft carrier fully demonstrates the Soviet Navy's saturation offensive combat thinking.

"The Gorshkov carries 2,200 people, has a displacement of 33,440 tons, and is 44,490 tons when fully loaded. The draft is about 10 meters. The aircraft carrier has a total length of 273.1 meters and a total width of 51.9 meters. The power unit is 8 boilers, 4 units Steam turbine. Powered by 4 sets of gear driven turbines, with a power of 200,000 shaft horsepower, and its maximum speed can reach 30 knots.

The Soviet Union meticulously introduced the detailed data of the Gorshkov to the Indian delegation. In order to allow the Indian delegation to better experience the real side of the Gorshkov, the carrier-based aircraft on it were kept intact. Stop in place.

"The Gorshkov was originally designed to carry 14 Yak-141 fighter jets, 12 ka-27 helicopters and 4 ka-31 helicopters. It is equipped with six twin-mounted SS-N-12 anti-ship missile launchers 12 192 8-gun SA-15 anti-aircraft missile launchers, eight single-mounted 100 mm/70 caliber guns, ten AK short-range guns, and two RBU-torpedo tubes. 6000 anti-submarine rocket launcher."

"But we don't need so many anti-ship weapons. What we need is an aircraft carrier that can carry more aircraft." The Indian delegation was not satisfied with the design of the Gorshkov and pointed fingers at those carrier-based aircraft. .

"Of course, this aircraft carrier was originally designed to carry anti-ship missiles with surface ships, submarines and combat aircraft. It adopts a penetration method of large-density and continuous attacks, and at the same time, in a short period of time, it uses different weapons from the air, surface and underwater direction, different levels are launched towards the same target beyond its ability to withstand strikes. The missile puts the anti-missile resistance capability of the enemy aircraft carrier formation's maritime air defense system into an unstoppable saturation state in a short period of time, in order to achieve the main purpose of increasing the probability of anti-ship missile penetration and destroying the target. The mode of operation is to attack, not to become a docking platform for aircraft fleets.”

The accompanying Soviet official replied calmly, "That's why the Gorshkov proposed a modification plan. After all, it is the second-generation Kiev-class aircraft carrier of our Soviet Union, and its thinking is still in the era of Brezhnev." , focusing on aircraft carrier anti-ship and anti-aircraft operations, otherwise we wouldn’t come up with a transformation plan, would we?”

The Soviet official's words played into the hands of the Indian delegation. He nodded with satisfaction, "Yes, things from the old era can also be transformed and continue to serve the new era. Although it is just a twisted product of your saturation attack, it is also a ship. It is a good medium-sized aircraft carrier. If it is modified, its potential will not lag behind that of other countries’ aircraft carriers.”

After disembarking from the Gorshkov aircraft carrier, the Soviet officials in charge of negotiations provided Indian officials with a modified plan for the aircraft carrier in the design bureau. He handed the revised plan into the hands of each representative, and then began to fool these laymen.

"The modification work of the Gorshkov mainly includes the following aspects: converting vertical and short-distance take-off and landing into ski-jump take-off and arrested landing. Install new combat systems, as detailed below, and remove the naval guns on the bow deck. Anti-ship weapons and anti-aircraft missile launchers are replaced by a complete airstrip and a 14.3° upturned ski jump deck. The bow flight deck is lengthened and widened, and the rear aircraft elevator is enlarged and strengthened. "

"Install blocking devices. Set up three blocking cables, install air search radar, navigation equipment and aircraft landing assistance equipment. Install fire control and electronic warfare systems, install new air conditioning and power systems, upgrade air defense capabilities, and install cards The Shitan system also has the Barak ship-to-air missile vertical launch system.”

"The combat performance of the aircraft carrier will be greatly improved after modification. The previous Kiev-class paid special attention to the power of missile attacks, so they equipped the aircraft carrier with a large number of anti-ship missiles and anti-aircraft missiles, which occupied the precious flight deck space of the aircraft carrier and limited the ship's capabilities. The number of carrier aircraft. For an aircraft carrier, the main task is to carry carrier-based aircraft and use the carrier-based aircraft company to control the air and sea. The other tasks can be left to the formation ships. Adding too much load to the aircraft carrier will cause performance degradation."

"And you see, the modified Gorshkov can actually carry 24 MiG-29k fixed-wing aircraft and several helicopters, which can just meet your domestic fighter needs. The MiG-29k can reach a combat radius of 1,050 kilometers when carrying an auxiliary fuel tank, two K73 and two K27 missiles, while the combat radius of the French Charles de Gaulle's Rafale fighter is only 1,093 kilometers. After the modification, its aviation combat radius will be comparable to that of the Charles de Gaulle."

The Soviet official deliberately compared the Charles de Gaulle and the Gorshkov, but he also deliberately ignored one thing. The Gorshkov can only carry 24 aircraft, but the Charles de Gaulle can carry up to 40 Rafales. Although the combat capabilities are comparable, the number is far less than that of the Charles de Gaulle. Moreover, the Charles de Gaulle is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, and its endurance is far superior to that of the Gorshkov. The Gorshkov can only carry early warning helicopters, while the Charles de Gaulle has a fixed-wing early warning aircraft with a ceiling, detection capability and load capacity far superior to early warning helicopters.

It can be said that although the modified Gorshkov is much better than a light aircraft carrier, it is still a long way behind the Charles de Gaulle.

However, upon hearing that the Gorshkov can be comparable to the Charles de Gaulle, the Indian delegation immediately whispered to each other in private. In their opinion, it felt like buying a nuclear-powered heavy aircraft carrier at a price that might not even be a light aircraft carrier.

"Will this aircraft carrier transformation plan satisfy everyone?" Seeing the uncontrollable excitement on the faces of the Indian delegation, the Soviet officials who observed the situation quickly struck while the iron was hot and facilitated the deal.

"Of course we are satisfied." The Indian delegation nodded, "We will convey this plan to the Indian Ministry of Defense in full when we go back, so that they can also understand the superior performance of this aircraft carrier. I believe that the Ministry of Defense will generously allocate funds to our navy."

So far, the Soviet side has not yet opened the price of the aircraft carrier. They want to create an aircraft carrier that you have picked up at a bargain and will regret if you don't buy it, and then ask the Indians for a high modification fee, and blackmail them several times. After all, the extra money for such a drastic modification of an aircraft carrier is enough to buy three destroyers.

Seeing that the time is ripe, the Soviet officials tactfully pushed a few cards in front of the Indian delegation and sent a favor, "These are some gifts prepared by our Soviet military for the Indian delegation. I hope you can accept them."

"What is this?" The member of the Indian delegation picked up the card and asked.

"The money in the anonymous bank account can also be used to contribute to India's national defense. It should be no problem to buy civilian private aircraft." Soviet officials are very familiar with India's style. In a country where the judiciary and government are equally corrupt, there is nothing that cannot be traded in US dollars. And this gift is just a catalyst to ensure that this huge deal is finalized. I believe that when they return, the Indian Navy will raise a unified slogan to purchase the Gorshkov.

Both sides smiled knowingly, and the Indian delegation generously accepted the card handed over by the Soviet officials, stood up and shook hands with the Soviet officials, and said with a smile, "I hope that India and the Soviet Union can cooperate happily."

"Similarly, we cooperate happily."

The Soviet side also said with a smile. (To be continued.)