If I was an Indian sailor, I would not want to stand watch to close to that thing if I wanted to have kids someday.
Posted on 08/26/2019 2:58:23 AM PDT by robowombat
India's Indigenous Aircraft Carrier Ready to Assist Russia-Made Vikramaditya by 2021 - Navy © AFP 2019 / Manjunath KIRAN
16:44 08.07.2019
New Delhi (Sputnik): India’s first domestically built aircraft carrier, the Vikrant, is expected to commence basin trials in 2020, Indian Navy’s Vice Admiral A.K. Saxena said on Monday. Currently, the Indian Navy is operating a single aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya - formerly known as the Admiral Gorshkov.
Vice Admiral Saxena confirmed that construction of the carrier is underway, at a brisk pace, and delivery to the navy for induction with Eastern Naval Command is expected in 2021.
“Construction is moving at a brisk pace. The gas turbines could be fired in the third quarter of this year. Basin trials will follow, as well as testing of the aviation complex,” said Vice Admiral Saxena while speaking at the curtain raiser for the seminar ‘Nation Building through Shipbuilding’ in New Delhi.
Trials of fighter jet take-offs off from the deck of the warship will be conducted after that, the Vice Admiral added.
The 37500-ton carrier will measure 260 metres in length, with a maximum width of 50 metres. It was designed to carry 12 MiG-29Ks, eight Tejas Light Combat Aircraft and 10 anti-submarine and reconnaissance helicopters on its 2.5-acre flight deck and hangars.
The flight deck of Vikrant can carry 19 aircraft while the hangers inside will have the capacity for 17 more fighters.
IAC will have two takeoff runways and a landing strip with three arrester wires. It will support STOBAR (Short Take Off But Arrested Recovery) operations with a ski jump for take-off like the INS Vikramaditya, instead of a steam catapult.
The carrier is designed with a very high degree of automation of machinery operation, ship navigation and survival. It will carry a crew of 160 officers and 1,400 sailors.
The ship is fitted with a combat management system developed indigenously by Tata Power in collaboration with Weapon and Electronics System Engineering Establishment and MARS, Russia.
Construction of the carrier was set back due to delays in negotiations with Russia’s Rosoboronexport and other foreign vendors over the construction of the carrier’s aviation complex. For the aviation facilities complex, 14 elements are of non-Russian origin, while 17 are Russian-made. This equipment was ordered in 2012 and 2015.
Meanwhile, the Indian Navy official has insisted that six submarines under the P-75 I project will have more than 50% of indigenous content. The navy floated a tender worth $6.5 billion to build six diesel-electric submarines under strategic partnership policy which envisages leading manufacturers across the globe working with Indian partners to supply the submersibles.
We better get moving here so there will be no “Carrier gap’
All we have are 19 of these things with an additional 4 under construction.
It will support STOBAR (Short Take Off But Arrested Recovery) operations with a ski jump for take-off like the INS Vikramaditya, instead of a steam catapult.
“All we have are 19 of these things with an additional 4 under construction.”
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I’m not yet prepared to declare the carrier obsolete. But, with the advent of hyper speed missiles and such even third world military’s can possess low cost carrier killer capability. Already, our carrier battle groups stand off from Southeast Asia waters, the Taiwan strait, etc. so, remains to be seen if they can be protected.
If I was an Indian sailor, I would not want to stand watch to close to that thing if I wanted to have kids someday.
Not very big
That's not what she said
Inclined to agree. Our Ohio Class subs with their MIRV warheads are as of now undetectable and each missile sub can carry about 20 Missiles with each missile able to launch with up to 12 warheads.
One sub can virtually destroy a Nations ability to wage warfare and 18 of them can destroy the world (almost). Not even our Pentagon knows exactly where they are at any given time.
Pretty scary and I’m glad we have them.
What possible ambitions could the Indians have that they feel the need for the YUGE expense of a blue-water flattop?
Keep China out of their neighborhood, patrol the South China Seas, keep the oil shipping lanes open.
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