India Undocks Newest Aircraft Carrier from shipyard, final phase of construction to Begin

www.thehindu.com...

India, on Wednesday, crossed a major milestone in defence shipbuilding when the maiden indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant was undocked on completion of structural work at the Cochin Shipyard.
The carrier is slated for induction in end-2018.

Displacement: 40,000 tons
Length: 262 m (860 ft)
Installed power: 4 × General Electric LM2500+ gas turbines
Speed: 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph)
Range: 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km; 9,200 mi)[1]
Crew: 1,400 (including air crew)

Sensors and processing systems

Selex RAN-40L AESA radar
EL/M-2248 MF-STAR AESA

Electronic warfare and decoys:

C/D band early air-warning radar[1]

Armament:

4 x Otobreda 76 mm (3 in) dual purpose cannons
Barak 1 & Barak 8 surface-to-air missile launchers (2 x 32 cells VLS)
AK-630 CIWS[2]

Aircraft carried:

Mikoyan MiG-29K
HAL Tejas
Kamov Ka-31
Westland Sea King
HAL Dhruv

Aviation facilities: 10,000 m2 (110,000 sq ft) flight deck

The Carrier is to join the Indian Navy by 2018 replacing current Carrier INS Viraat which has harriers. Construction will soon begin on INS Vishal which should be around 65-70000 tons and is rumored to be Nuclear powered

I wonder why none of the US carriers have a slope at the end of the runway? Is it because this carrier is smaller (shorter runway)?

a reply to: jtrenthacker

Because they don't use a catapult. The US carriers do, which allows for heavier takeoff weights.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Hmmm, I guess I just assumed all carriers had a catapult mechanism. I can't believe any aircraft would be able to consistently take off in that distance without one. Learn something new everyday.

a reply to: jtrenthacker

They can't take off with anywhere near a full load of either fuel or weapons, which is the disadvantage to it, but they don't have to worry about the catapult breaking, so are always able to launch aircraft. They also don't need expensive, heavy, expensive equipment to launch.

The Indians are about to start work with the US Navy on a new carrier. It's speculated that it may be nuclear powered and use the new EMALS catapult.

India has 41 Naval vessels under construction currently. They plan to have a fleet of 200 naval ships by 2025. That should put them in the top five naval powers.

I can only assume they're doing this because of China's increased Naval strength .

en.wikipedia.org... seems they want to have a smaller carrier force then the usn (5-6 instead of 12-14 like we have (fleet carriers mind you not the marine ones)

en.wikipedia.org...

In February 2015, admiral Ravi Vohra was quoted saying "India’s ultimate goal is the eventual establishment of a five-carrier fleet comprising a mix of large and small carriers

seems to almost be the test bed for what will be its bigger sister ship the INS Vishal

Main article: INS Vishal In April 2011, Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma stated that construction of the second carrier was some years away as there were a number of higher spending priorities for the navy.[23] The Initial design of the second carrier featured significant changes from Vikrant, including; increase in displacement to over 65,000 tons, a Steam-powered CATOBAR system to launch larger fighters, AEW (airborne early-warning) aircraft and mid-air refueling tankers.[24]

which seems to want to have a cat and thus not needing the jump deck id assume?

a reply to: RalagaNarHallas

If it gets EMALS then it will almost certainly be nuclear powered as well. That's one thing the USN team was going to be talking about.

If they were really so smart, they would build it like a cruising love boat for the rich, and conceal the weapons like the old pirate ships, then they could float in other waters. Thought India was getting smarter?

a reply to: maddy21

Ah, like China recently we can Welcome the Indian Navy to the 20th Century!

originally posted by: Greathouse
India has 41 Naval vessels under construction currently. They plan to have a fleet of 200 naval ships by 2025. That should put them in the top five naval powers.

I can only assume they're doing this because of China's increased Naval strength .

Yeah down the road you will most likely see the USN/Japanese Navy/Indian Navy as the main counter weight against China, joined by local ships from Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and likely the Brits and French. With US carriers, Indian carriers and Japans helicopter destroyers AKA carriers plus airbases all over the Pacific the Chinese navy would be pretty much stuck in port.

originally posted by: MrSpad

originally posted by: Greathouse
India has 41 Naval vessels under construction currently. They plan to have a fleet of 200 naval ships by 2025. That should put them in the top five naval powers.

I can only assume they're doing this because of China's increased Naval strength .

Yeah down the road you will most likely see the USN/Japanese Navy/Indian Navy as the main counter weight against Japan, joined by local ships from Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and likely the Brits and French. With US carriers, Indian carriers and Japans helicopter destroyers AKA carriers plus airbases all over the Pacific the Chinese navy would be pretty much stuck in port.

Historically when China becomes aggressive India arms theirself. I see them as the 500 pound gorilla no one speaks of. When people speak of possible future Chinese aggression .

originally posted by: Greathouse

originally posted by: MrSpad

originally posted by: Greathouse
India has 41 Naval vessels under construction currently. They plan to have a fleet of 200 naval ships by 2025. That should put them in the top five naval powers.

I can only assume they're doing this because of China's increased Naval strength .

Yeah down the road you will most likely see the USN/Japanese Navy/Indian Navy as the main counter weight against Japan, joined by local ships from Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and likely the Brits and French. With US carriers, Indian carriers and Japans helicopter destroyers AKA carriers plus airbases all over the Pacific the Chinese navy would be pretty much stuck in port.

Historically when China becomes aggressive India arms theirself. I see them as the 500 pound gorilla no one speaks of. When people speak of possible future Chinese aggression .

India's problem for a long time is that it no strategic vision. Its foreign office was well run on day to day issues but, with not history of long term thinking it just did not bother. Until recently. They now seem to have a plan for the future. The real question for both India and China is how well would they fair in modern combat environment. That is question nobody will know until it happens. India certainly has the man power and the will to put defense as a priority but, its large mish mash of weapons systems from all over the world make logistics and C&C much more complicated. India's fleet following British military tradition would seem to be its ace in the hole. A ground war on the Chinese border would likely be a stalemate as China would be bust elsewhere, along its coast and on the Vietnam and Burmese borders. And India most likely having to deal with or be ready to deal with Pakistan.

a reply to: Greathouse

that would be about the only reason, I can see. Since the US and India are close allies. Barring something totally unforeseen, this is a good thing for the US so far as strategic planning is concerned. India can, at the very least, checkmate the PRC, with only a modicum of help from the US...

One less worry, so to speak.

Barring the unforeseen, of course...

a reply to: MrSpad

You hit on one of the keys about India and China is manpower . When you mentioned Longistic's that has always been the Achilles' heel of any military force. You can have a population of 1 billion and still not be able to supply a 20 million man army .

a reply to: seagull

I agree on your assessment barring the unseen . But the unseen complication might be developing before our eyes. China is at the moment making inroads into Pakistan .

a reply to: Greathouse

Which isn't surprising at all, really. Given how cozy the US, and India are becoming.

...and frankly, they're welcome to the Palestinians. Not sure what the US thinks they're getting from them...other then trouble, I mean.

'course that could safely be said for many of the countries in that region.

a reply to: Greathouse


Yet for some reason Britian gives India millions a year in aid when our armed forces are being cut.....Strange.

Second thoughts

Stupid mobile