When it comes to buying an aircraft carrier and giving away the carrier’s planes, military buffs from all over the world look to India and laugh. Unexpectedly, now such a thing will soon be staged again. India Eurasia Times said on the 8th, the Indonesian Navy is planning to purchase retired Italian aircraft carrier Garibaldi as the new core of the country’s navy. The Italian side promised that if the relevant agreement is finally signed, it will also give several AV 8B fighter jets with the ship.
This sounds great, but anyone who knows anything about these buy-one-get-one-free deals in the international arms trade needs to think about it a bit more.
The Italian carrier, which displaces about 11,000 tons and is one of the world’s smallest, was launched in 1985 and served as the flagship of the Italian Navy for many years, according to the report. In October 2024, with the commissioning of Italy’s new amphibious assault ship Trieste, the Garibaldi was decommissioned and put up for sale.
Italian Navy sources told Jane’s Intelligence Group that the Indonesian Navy is in talks with Italy to procure the carrier, with the Italian side promising to provide several AV 8B short take-off vertical landing fighters for the ship. If finalized, this procurement partnership would greatly enhance the Indonesian Navy’s overall capabilities, especially for non-combat military operations such as humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and maritime security.
Indian media also made a point of mentioning that the move means another country in China’s neighborhood will get an aircraft carrier. According to the report, the Indonesian Navy’s modernization plan in recent years has called for at least four large ships with helicopter capability, four frigates and a number of missile patrol boats. The addition of the Garibaldi will therefore make it one of the largest warships in the Indonesian Navy and will work in tandem with other vessels currently being procured by the country.
The problem, however, is that a closer look at the Garibaldi shows that the deal may not be as good as it seems. As the Italian Navy is used to operating in the Mediterranean Sea, known as the bathtub, it doesn’t require much in the way of wave resistance or sea keeping, which is why the Garibaldi was built so small. It’s nearly half the size of the British Invincible class of light aircraft carriers. As the first Italian carrier to carry fixed-wing aircraft, the design of the Garibaldi was not very mature, with a flight deck 174 meters long and 305 meters wide, and a 15-meter-long six-degree sliding deck at the bow, which would help the AV 8Bs to take off. In contrast, the Invincible class carriers have a 12-degree sliding deck, which is much more effective in enhancing the takeoff of carrier aircraft.
According to the data provided by Italy, the Garibaldi can accommodate a maximum of 18 medium helicopters or 16 AV 8Bs, but after nearly 40 years of use, the existing AV 8Bs in Italy have long been out of service. What’s worse, the AV 8Bs that Italy promised to provide for free have become obsolete, and the actual combat capability of these short-legged fighters, which are barely second-generation, is far less impressive than what the Western media has been publicizing for years. For Italy, the AV 8B that was given out for free was originally intended to be scrapped, and the F 35B stealth fighter introduced from the United States is the new favorite of the Italian Navy.
Aircraft carrier Garibaldi at its peak, with its flight deck full of carrier planes.
Therefore, overall speaking, this Italian second-hand aircraft carrier is not much for the Indonesian Navy to really enhance its combat power The Garibaldi itself is too small in tonnage and carries a small number of carrier aircraft with outdated performance, not to mention that the ship has been in service for many years and is approaching the end of its service life. Looking back at the history of developing countries picking up carriers that are nearing the end of their service life in developed countries, we can see that almost no one can really make a profit. Brazil’s introduction of the French carrier Foxy is the best example.
The only exception is the Indian Navy, which has modernized and converted its second-hand carrier from the UK, the Athletic God, which was actually less than 30 years old at the time, into the Viraat, which will remain in service until 2017, which is quite a cost-effective deal. Of course, we all know that history is, after that the Indian Navy interrupted the old trick of introducing the Russian aircraft carrier Gorshkov, but ate the Russian buy carrier aircraft to send carrier routine, the result is that the aircraft carrier modification is time-consuming and laborious not to mention that it is not successful, supporting the MiG 29K carrier fighter is even more problematic, and has become the heart of the Indian Navy’s disease.
The reason why I take the Indian aircraft carrier to say something is to show that even if you want to think of India so have quite a wealth of experience in the use of aircraft carriers in the country, want to make the aircraft carrier really play performance is also very difficult, as when China began to modify the Varyag aircraft carrier said, this is a very large systematic project. Therefore, the Eurasian Times does not need to implicitly link Indonesia’s intention to introduce the decommissioned Italian aircraft carrier to China. Whether the Indonesian Navy, which is inexperienced in the use and maintenance of large ships, will be able to utilize the carrier well is still unknown. Moreover, if they want to speculate on the impact of this second-hand aircraft carrier on China, they are really thinking too much and underestimating the Chinese navy.
I believe that the Indonesian Navy more close contact with the visiting Chinese 075-type amphibious assault ship, should have a more realistic and sober understanding of the Chinese Navy.
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