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USN refutes Indian claim about sale of vessel
By Rahul Bedi
02 April 2008
The United States has denied imposing restrictions on the Indian Navy (IN) regarding its 2007 sale of USS Trenton, the 16,900-ton Austin-class landing platform dock (LPD) now renamed INS Jalashwa.
The denial came in response to a report from India's Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which was delivered to the Indian parliament in March and complained that the US had set conditions as to how the IN could deploy the vessel.
"There are no unique terms or language associated with the transfer," US Navy (USN) Secretary Donald C Winter said in New Delhi on 28 March at the end of a three-day visit.
The CAG report said that "restrictive clauses" in the USD50.63 million purchase of the 37-year-old LPD "raised doubts about the real advantages" of the acquisition.
Image: The former USS Trenton is now the Indian Navy's INS Jalashwa (Indian Navy)