Soviet Union 1991

(This chapter was written last night. I didn’t come back from work until 10 o’clock to write. After finishing writing, I was too tired and fell asleep. I woke up today and found that I forgot to upload the chapter.)

It is indeed difficult to make the remaining Kiev-class aircraft carriers shine, so Yanayev first thought of India. As the Indian Navy, which was bleeding heavily due to the Gorshkov, found that the aircraft carrier was not as beautiful as the Soviet Union described after pulling it back. It can only comfort itself that the Kiev-class aircraft carrier is currently the most suitable aircraft carrier for the development of the Indian Navy.

India, which originally did not plan to continue to purchase ships in recent years, was deeply stimulated by a recent incident. France sent three Agosta-class submarines to India’s old enemy Pakistan. Although India cancelled a series of subsequent contracts for fighter jets from France in retaliation against France, this incident also caused Indian generals to become nervous. The Indian Navy, which has always been ambitious to maintain its advantage in the Indian Ocean, is considering whether to further strengthen its naval power.

In India's view, among modern naval equipment, only aircraft carriers have the ocean-going and maritime deterrence capabilities they need. In order to squeeze out foreign forces and maintain absolute maritime superiority over countries around the Indian Ocean, the Indian Navy must have more than two aircraft carriers, one to control the Bay of Bengal in the east and one to control the Arabian Sea in the west. If conditions permit, one more should be added for mobility. The Vikrant and Vikramaditya have already achieved the destiny of controlling the Indian Ocean, but because of Pakistan's newly purchased submarines, the Indian Navy's top brass has the opportunity to ask the Ministry of Defense for money.

Whose ships to buy and what kind of ships to buy is a problem, but Lakshminarayan Ramdas, the deputy chief of staff of the Indian Navy who has always been ambitious to build the first navy position in the Indian Ocean, smelled an opportunity from the Soviet Union's Kiev-class aircraft carrier. He believes that this is an excellent opportunity to strengthen the Indian Navy and the best opportunity to become the hegemon of the Indian Ocean.

So he found Minister Kapur of the Ministry of Defense and prepared to persuade the Minister of Defense to allocate funds to add another aircraft carrier to the Indian Navy to form the combat capability of three aircraft carrier battle groups. Only India has the courage to own three aircraft carriers at once.

But Ramdas's idea shocked Kapur, especially the idea of ​​building the first overlord of the Indian Ocean was simply an unrealistic fantasy in his opinion. Minister Kapur wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked in confusion, "Then Admiral Ramdas, do you know how much of India's annual military expenditure is now accounted for by the funds for the two aircraft carriers? Do you know how much more funds we need to allocate every year to train two aircraft carrier battle groups? Do you know how badly we were cheated by the Soviet Union? And now you are going to add another Kiev-class aircraft carrier. Excuse me, does Admiral Ramdas really want our naval construction to go bankrupt?"

Faced with Minister Kapur's accusation, Admiral Ramdas replied calmly. "I think Minister Kapoor has misunderstood my idea. I don't want to continue to buy a Kiev-class aircraft carrier. After all, it is obviously not cost-effective to buy one more aircraft carrier that will be eliminated sooner or later. What I mean is that we don't need the Kiev-class, but we can rent the Kiev-class aircraft carrier, right? Just like we rented Soviet nuclear submarines, this will not only save money, but also ensure the long-term plan of the Indian Navy to control the Indian Ocean with three aircraft carriers. I personally think this approach is worth a try."

"And don't forget our opponent, Pakistan. Recently, three submarines have just been received from France. If the Indian Navy does not try to make any moves, it will sooner or later be suppressed by Pakistan."

Admiral Ramdas's statement made Kapoor fall into deep thought. To be honest, he did not expect that the Indian Navy could rent other people's aircraft carriers. Anyway, the Soviet Kiev-class is now only exposed to the wind and rain in the waters near the shipyard, and the Soviet government has to pay a maintenance fee every month. But if India rents it, the Soviet government, which does not produce Kiev-class, must welcome India's approach.

The most important thing is that countries with aircraft carrier strike force like the Kiev class do not look down on the castrated version of the Kiev class, while countries without aircraft carrier battle groups do not have enough funds to maintain the operation of an aircraft carrier. Therefore, the buyer of the Soviet Union can only be India, because apart from India, it is impossible for other countries to purchase Soviet aircraft carriers. Thinking of this, Minister Kapoor gradually felt that Admiral Ramdas's method was worth a try.

"If there is only one customer. Then we can lower the price of renting Soviet aircraft carriers and make up for our losses on the Vikramaditya aircraft carrier. The modernization of the Soviet Union caused India to lose a lot of funds. How could we miss this opportunity to bite back." Ramdas said excitedly. It is definitely Ramdas' dream to be able to cheat the Soviet Union once.

Thinking of the original aircraft carrier plan, Minister Kapoor felt that his heart was bleeding. Compare Ulyanovsk and Varyag. India's Vikramaditya aircraft carrier is simply a pile of horrible sea scrap metal that has been transformed by experiments. Of course, Kapoor would not describe this big guy as scrap metal on the sea, after all, he also had to take care of the growing confidence of the Indian Navy.

After careful consideration, Kapoor breathed a sigh of relief, which meant that he had basically agreed to Ramdas's request.

"Admiral Ramdas, if we rent the Soviet Kiev class this time, I will send you as a representative of the Navy to negotiate with the Soviet Union. I hope you can prepare first." Kapur said. After all, this plan was first proposed by Ramdas, so he is the most suitable candidate for the entire navy.

"Okay, Minister Kapur, I will go back and prepare to discuss the relevant matters of renting an aircraft carrier. I also hope that Minister Kapur can blow the wind to those guys who manage the purse strings, so that the Navy will not make things difficult when asking for military funds." Ramdas suppressed his inner excitement. This is definitely an opportunity for him to make meritorious deeds. If the matter of renting an aircraft carrier is negotiated this time, then he will be one step closer to the position of Chief of the Navy General Staff in the future.

"I know all this, but you must not let us down, Minister Ramdas." Kapur said earnestly, "If we succeed, we can get back all the money we paid from the Soviet Union."

(I recommend two books. My friend Laojiu's "God Concentration Camp" is on the shelves today. As a book that has been red-blooded, I can only comment on it with red-blooded comments. This may not be the most popular funny book, but it is definitely the most sincere one, and it is also the book that has the most flavor of "The First Chaos in History". The author of the second book "The Land Walker of Doom" is one of the most principled authors on Qidian. Maybe he is not the best, but he is the one who works the hardest. Recommendation is over.) (To be continued.)