China’s Second Carrier Will be Home-built

• Press reports seem to confirm ongoing rumors that China is building its 2nd aircraft carrier in Dalian.

• China may give itself more leeway than Western countries in getting cozy with authoritarian regimes, but that is not working out so well.

• USPACOM commander Admiral Locklear, in his speech at the Surface Navy Association Conference last week, expressed the hope that China would become a “net provider of security” but was adamant that American “historic dominance” was diminishing in the Asia/Pacific region.

India

• The Ministry of Defence wants to scrap INS Vikrant: not the new carrier under construction in Kochi, the old one (R11) bought from the UK in 1957.

• India’s procurement rules may be about to leave 13 major surface combatants without naval guns. The problem is a rule that cancels single-bidder competitions, coupled with foolish contract structuring that deterred supplier bids. The same underlying contract issue is also stalling India’s Rafale fighter buy.

• The Observer Research Foundation, an Indian think tank, looks at how detente between the US and Iran will ease Indian-Iranian trade, while Pakistan struggles to close a pipeline deal with Iran.