But the Sao Paulo won't be in for commission long will she? IIRC she's rather old
The Brazilians just spent five years rebuilding her (everything from her Steam plant to her CCTV system). This is the same navy that operated
Minas Gerais for just shy of 41 years, and had her still in commission on her 56th anniversary of her first commissioning. I'd expect another 10-15 years of service out of her
minimum.
Also I suppose we Aussies will be in the same group as the Europeans soon?
A friend of mine came up with a Catagory listing of nations with aircraft carriers, or carrier capability, and while simplistic it does show off the different levels that exist
- CATOBAR Navies
- USA
- France (while they only have one carrier, and it's a rather flawed design, it's still a CVN)
- Russia
- Brazil
- China (with Varyag having now been stood up)
- STOVL Navies (Those navies that have STOVL carriers, and operate them as such)
- Spain
- Italy
- India
- Thailand (while they have a carrier, the status of the Harriers is uncertain)
- STOVL Capable Navies (Those navies that have STOVL platforms but don't operate STOVL aircraft off of them)
- UK
- Japan
- South Korea
- Navies with Carrier qualified Air assets
- Argentina
The Australians will be moving into the third category while the Brits and the Indians will be moving into the first