INS Vikrant (IAC1) & INS Vikramaditya - News & Discussions
- Thread starter Ashwin
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Yes, but the air force group is too small for two aircraft carriers, so you really need to speed up the Indian acquisition procedures. It seems to me that this is not hard to do, all you have to do is look at the procedures of several countries and choose the one that has the most efficient and safest procedure, and copy it.
An INS Vikrant sized AC which is to say a ~ 45,000 ton AC has been proposed to keep the shipyard running to ensure their skills don't get rusted as a replacement to the sub optimal INS Vikramaditya especially since MoD isn't in the mood to clear the 60,000 ton AC , the IN has been demanding .
Hopefully it should be approved in a year or two & we can have it in service a decade from today featuring the TEDBF .
Plus the 26 Rafale M to join them with the TEDBF to replace the MiG-29K post 2035.
I never quite understand why India is making TEDBF? Just buy more Rafales to arm IAC-2, IAC-1 and Vikramaditya. Give an order 30+30+30 = 90 Rafale-M with a condition to integrate Indian weapons like Astra and future Brahmos-M. Stockpile spares for Rafale.
Meanwhile move Mig-29K to purely back up roles in IAF.
The human resources freed from TEDBF development should be redirected towards AMCA realization.
Also, why does India makes its AC incompatiable with AWACS? With elevator and hangar door, IAC-1 can never have a AWACS on board.
Meanwhile move Mig-29K to purely back up roles in IAF.
The human resources freed from TEDBF development should be redirected towards AMCA realization.
Also, why does India makes its AC incompatiable with AWACS? With elevator and hangar door, IAC-1 can never have a AWACS on board.
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@vstol Jockey Do all the aircrafts in a carrier need to fit into hangar bay at the same time? I think not. How many used to fit during your time on Vikrant and Virat?
During peacetime sailing we embark only the number which can be housed in the hanger. But in war sailing, this limitation is waived off and we carry aircraft inside the hanger and also on deck. Read about what MHS Hermes carried in Falkland war.
Sub-optimal design I'm afraid, plain and simple. Our establishment being perennial penny pinchers resulted in the Warship Design Bureau designing a STOBAR carrier. No available ship-borne AWACS worth having (E-2D Hawkeye) is STOBAR compatible.
Another unspoken but well-regarded design parameter is the ability to carry 1 aircraft per 1,000 tonnes displacement. Meaning, a carrier displacing 45,000 tonnes should be able to carry 45 aircrafts. Our present carriers don't, and neither will the Vikrant follow-on unless it goes through a re-design phase.
I was hopeful that if a Vikrant follow-on is ordered, then at least it'd be re-designed to sport a flat deck with a CATOBAR system to boot, so that it could operate E2D AWACS for better situational awareness. The Ka-31 just doesn't cut it anymore. But looks like that would not come to pass.
So during peace time, AC jets are actually stored in shore based hangars? Thats cool. I did not know these details of operating ACs.
Actually this problem is present in British designs as well. Both are STOBAR. UK copes by making a helicopter into an AEW platform. The so called Merlin.
India, if it is so allregic to cataputs can install radar arrays on something like V-22 Ospray and make that a AEW&C for carriers..
Same as we do with Ka-31, I mentioned so in my previous comment. The shortcomings of a helicopter based AEWCS are well known, so I won't expand on them.
While an undoubtedly brilliant idea and something which IMHO should be a trilateral project (US/UK/India; USN eventually needs a E-2D replacement; RN considered but abandoned on cost grounds), I don't even want to think about how enormously expensive a V-22 based AEWCS is going to be if we were to go solo on such a project.
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The normal squadron UE-Unit Establish holding of aircraft in IN is just about 12 aircraft. Rest of the aircraft are held in war reserve. These aircraft are rotated for fligtht operations to ensure staggering of maintenance. All are not flown every day. Even the embarkation during peacetime is done by the squadron with the aircraft it has with it at the time of embarkation.
In case war sailing is required, all the aircraft including the war reserves are pulled out and deployed. If all can't be deployed onboard the carrier, they are deployed ashore to assist IAF.
When is the AC tested with full battle load aircraft and operations during peacetime ? Is it during exercises ?
Yes but only on very rare occassions. Mostly full aircraft compliment are exercised only on paper due to the amount of logistics involved and pulling out war reserves plus all pilots from various desk jobs. The squadron never has its full strength of pilots. Many pilots operational on type are posted to various other desk jobs. In case of war sailing, all these pilots are pulled out, given a quick refresher training and embarked on carrier.
This. The IAC-1 had been through several design iterations, from an under 20,000t 'Harrier Carrier' in the 1990s to a full-size 65000t N-powered, EMALS equipped CATOBAR as threat perceptions changed.
However, they came up against a wall in the MoD every time until the current design, a 39000t STOBAR 'Air Defense Ship' (as it was originally called) made the cut.
A jump from STOVL Harrier to CTOL Rafale/SH (and all it entailed in terms of build and lifecycle costs) was too much for successive govts. There was opposition from the IAF which argued that land-based MKIs could project power far beyond our coasts with IFR support. It didn't help that both CDS came from the Army- zero support for CAPEX on large carrier.
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INS Vikrant will a deck full of Mig-29Ks
