No plans to sell Kitty Hawk to India: US

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates denies rumours that there are plans to sell the ageing aircraft carrier, which is set to be decommissioned next year, to India.

The United States has no plans to sell an ageing aircraft carrier to India, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Saturday.

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After addressing a high-level regional security forum, Gates was asked about rumours that the USS Kitty Hawk would be sold to India.

"I am aware of no such plans," Gates replied at the Shangri-La Dialogue forum of regional analysts, defence and security officials.

The Kitty Hawk was commissioned 47 years ago but on Wednesday left its base in Japan for the last time. The US Navy's oldest active-duty carrier is to be decommissioned next year, the ship's website said.

USS Kitty Hawk was based in Yokosuka, Japan, for nearly a decade, and was deployed to the Gulf during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Another carrier is to be based in Japan in place of the Kitty Hawk.