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Showing posts with the label Indian Air Craft Carriers

Shifting timelines of India’s Indigenous Aircraft Carrier ( Source- Russia & India Report / Author- Rakesh Krishnan Simha)

INS Vikramaditya underway ( Image credits- Indian Navy) Source- Russia & India report Author- Rakesh Krishnan Simha India wants two combat ready aircraft carriers available, on its east and west coasts, at any given time. Carrier construction, however, has not kept in step with this lofty ambition. The Cabinet Committee on Security gave approval for the construction of the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) in May 1999, but the first of these two floating airfields, the INS Vikrant, is expected to be fully launch ready only in 2023. The Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) of India’s report titled ‘Union Defence Services Navy and Coast Guard’ tabled on July 26, 2016, says the IAC programme has suffered delays because of drastic revisions right through the carrier’s timeline. Ship construction involves the following stages; production, keel laying, launch, outfitting, basin trials, contractor sea trials, and final machinery trials. Currently, the carrier is a

Russia and France in running for new Indian carrier ( Source- Russia & India Report)

INS Vikramaditya (Credits- Indian Navy) Source- Russia & India Report India intends to announce a tender for purchase of a new aircraft carrier with 54 aircraft aboard, the French military newsletter TTU stated. According to the publication, the Indian Navy is seeking to purchase an aircraft carrier with a total displacement of 65,000 tons, length of 300 metres, width of 70 metres, and equipped with a nuclear power plant. According to the Russian military blog bmpd, maintained by employees of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST), India is planning to build another aircraft carrier, to be called the ‘Vishal,’ in a domestic shipyard, with foreign assistance. According to the blog, the main contenders for this contract are France and Russia, because the tender conditions would stipulate compatibility of the air wing of the future ship with the aircraft already in service with the Indian Air Force and Navy. This condition among carrier-base

India to Launch First Homegrown Aircraft Carrier ( Source- The National Interest / Author- Zachary Keck)

India's New Air Craft Carrier Vikrant  ( Image source- Wikimedia Commons / Credits- Indian Navy)) Source- The National Interest Author- Zachary Keck India is set to launch its first indigenous aircraft carrier later this month, according to local media reports. On Thursday The Hindu reported that India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, will be launched from Cochin Shipyard on May 28. “All major equipment has gone into the vessel, which has now acquired the shape of an aircraft carrier, with a finished hull. Barring a bit of ongoing work on the superstructure, structural work is all over and the internal compartments have all been welded in,” an official at shipyard was quoted as saying. The INS Vikrant will displace 40,000 tons and feature a short-take off but arrested recovery (STOBAR) system, rather than the catapult-assisted take-off but arrested recovery (CATOBAR) launch system used by current U.S. aircraft carriers. The ski-slope launc

What Does India's Carrier Aviation Future Hold? (Source- The Diplomat / Author- Robert Farley)

French Rafale operating from American carrier ( Source- Wikimedia Commons / Credits- United States Navy)  Source- The Diplomat Author- Robert Farley In the fallout of the Rafale deal, can the Indian naval air arm be saved?  More to the point, could French-built Rafale fighters still, eventually, fly from Indian aircraft carriers? As the Diplomat has detailed, one of the fruits of India’s relationship with the United States should be the EMALS catapult system. Catapult launched (CATOBAR) aircraft differ from their conventional and Short Take Off (STOBAR) cousins in several ways, primarily with respect to their ability to endure the stress involved in the catapult system. Although INS Vikramaditya currently operates MiG-29Ks from her STOBAR deck, no one has yet made clear which fighter will fly from India’s catapult-capable carriers. At the moment, only five fighters operate off CATOBAR carriers; the F/A-18 Hornet (and its Super Hornet cousin), the A-4 Skyhawk (the