That’s no reason not to do so now. US yards had lots of experience building “jeep” carriers in the past. I’m sure it wouldnt be too difficult to resurrect those skills.
The skills are there, but the jeep carriers were smaller than what the Indian Navy will soon acquire and the “jeep carriers”, if you recall, were not designed to last as long as their larger sisters. There is no dispute that American shipyards could build a mid-size carrier for the Indian Navy, but it would take several years for the ship to be completed. We could have approached them, say, eight years ago and inked such a deal and have a carrier ready for them by now.