India begins construction of aircraft carrier

SwordFish_13

Active member
Hi,

Source:AFP

NEW DELHI (AFP) - India began an eight-year project to build an aircraft carrier in its most ambitious military programme to date, officials said.

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee launched the construction of the 37,500-tonne carrier at the state-run Cochin Shipyard in the southern state of Kerala, a naval spokesman said on Monday.

The carrier will carry 30 British- and Russian-made jet fighters as well as locally-designed light combat aircraft which took India more than 22 years to develop.

Federal Shipping Minister T.R. Balu said the ship-building yard would complete the project and hand over the carrier to the 137-ship Indian navy by 2012.

"The project is strategically important for our defence and so we will complete it within the target period," Balu said.

The 252 metre-long (831 feet) carrier, which will be powered by four gas turbines and have a range of 7,500 nautical miles, will have a top speed of 28 knots and will carry 160 officers and 1,400 sailors.

It will have two 200 metre-long runways and a landing deck for helicopters.

Several other countries, including China, the United States, France, Russia, Britain, Spain and Italy, have aircraft carriers.

The carrier was designed by the Indian navy but Italian firm Fincantieri will help Cochin Shipyard integrate the main propulsion system and perform other specialised tasks.

The Indian Navy had two aircraft carriers but only the INS Viraat is in operation as the INS Vikrant was decommissioned in January 1997.

Last year India signed a 1.5 billion dollar deal with Russia for a 40,000 tonne aircraft carrier, Admiral Gorshkov, which is slated to join the Indian navy in 2008 after a refit.

Besides the aircraft carrier, India is building 19 other ships, including frigates and corvettes. Last month it unveiled plans to buy patrol boats.

Peace
-=SF_13=-
 
SwordFish_13 said:
Hi,

Source:AFP


"The project is strategically important for our defence and so we will complete it within the target period," Balu said.

Peace
-=SF_13=-


Isnt the biggest threat to India at the moment Pakistan? last time i checked there was no body of water large enough for the need of an aircraft carrier. maybe a missle defense system would be more necessary to national defense.
 
I really don't think LCA is suitable for the short runways of the Aircraft Carrier as for now. However LCA is still under technical observations and modifications for the Naval Version which is not an easy task.
 
Hi,

Isnt the biggest threat to India at the moment Pakistan?

Generally you have to plan while keping Future in Mind ................and China is a Realistic threat in Future and not Pakistan ......With the Growing Millitary Imbalance and that would Grow bigger in Future Ppakistan Would be countered Easily .

China has been spending Huge Amount lately To modernaise their Millitary.......even though China Still Dosen't have a Carrier But still i dosen't hurt to be prepared does it ?

India navy has been a Carrier based Force for a Long time now........... Form the Very begining a Carrer based Force was prefered . ............ It now seems that after using it for a Decade indian Navy is more Comfortable Using a Carrier based Force that's why they have been demanding At least 3 Carriers.

I really don't think LCA is suitable for the short runways of the Aircraft Carrier as for now.

A Naval version of the LCA capable of operation from an aircraft carrier is also under development. along with the Normal LCA :)



Source:Yahoo News

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India plans to build an aircraft carrier by 2012, the navy said on Tuesday, as New Delhi moves to boost the blue water capability of its naval forces.

The Indian navy -- the seventh largest in the world -- already has an ageing British-made aircraft carrier in its fleet and has signed a $1.5-billion deal with Russia for a second hand carrier that will be handed over to India by 2009 after a refit.

A navy statement said the new carrier would cost 32.61 billion rupees ($746 million) and it would operate a mix of Russian-made MiG-29 K and Sea Harrier combat aircraft as well as Indian and Russian-made helicopters. It would have two runways and a crew of 1,600.

Work on the carrier would start on April 11.

"This is the most prestigious project which the Indian Navy has taken up so far," the statement said.

The carrier to be constructed at a state-run shipyard in southern India will be 252 metres (827 feet) long with a deep displacement of 37,500 tonnes. It will hold 30 aircraft.

India, one of the world's biggest arms importers, is modernising its navy and is looking to wrap up a deal to buy six Scorpene submarines from France and is also considering the purchase of P-3C Orion spy aircraft from the United States.

India's defence bill, which is more than 10 times what it spends on health and education, has been rising since the previous Hindu nationalist-led government coalition embarked on a huge programme to re-equip the world's fourth largest military.

The Indian navy impressed governments across the world when it mobilised more than 30 ships within three days to respond to aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami.

The Indian navy fleet consists of around 140 vessels but many of its ships and submarines are old and in need of replacement.

Peace
 
Isnt the biggest threat to India at the moment Pakistan?

No, its not. All the previous 4 wars between India & Pakistan have clearly shown who the boss is. Pakistan has even formally accepted that India is the dominant player in South Asia and it has no intentions of getting into an arms race with it, though what pakistan says and actually does are exactly the opposite.
It's anyone's guess who the other long term biggest threat is
 
behemoth79 said:
Isnt the biggest threat to India at the moment Pakistan? last time i checked there was no body of water large enough for the need of an aircraft carrier. maybe a missle defense system would be more necessary to national defense.
How about the Indian ocean?

90% of India's energy imports and nearly all its foreign trade goes through the Indian ocean, not to mention the almost 10,000 islands that make up India's territory.

Rather than repeat, I'll just cross-post from another post I previously made on the subject: regarding the role of the IN


Cheers,
Raj

=====================

Pecently, the IN had unveiled its new doctrine. It reflects and reacts to the new world situation and the growing importance of Asia in oil politics.

With exception of the USN, India is the dominant force in the Indian ocean region. Along with its navy, the magnitude of the shore-based IAF and missile forces can virtually deny the region to any surface force from the Malaccas to the Persian gulf. Even a hypothetical USN carrier force would not lightly tangle with this in conventional terms.

From what reseach I have done, I see the IN's role as basically three-fold -- wherein the IN must be capable of fulfilling each of these roles at the same time without compromizing on any of the other of them, viz.:
(1). A guaranteer of Indian strategic interests
(2). An independantly operateable (from the mainland, that is) instrument of localized force projection anywhere in the IOR
(3). And a policeman of free-lanes shipping in the busiest sea lanes in the world.

With regards to the first, India is heavily dependant on foreign oil for its needs. As the Indian economy continues to boom, oil requirements grow exponentially. India's relationship with Iran, UAE, Oman and even speculations in the N. African desert require adaquate security of tankers transiting from the Gulf to India's west coast. It is necessary that IN must be overwhelmingly capable of providing this security, as the Indian economy is dependant on this influx.

Even with pipeline politics and talks of pipelines from through Pakistan from Iran and the CAR, India's strategic supply of petrolium reserves is two weeks --about the time it would take to conduct any war against Pakistan or China. Those two weeks, would see whatever land-based oil lines in Pakistan obviously destroyed. India would then be forced to import its entire petrolium resources through sea-lanes, and the Indian Navy must be in a position, post-war, to protect India's shipping from any threat.

India's strategic requirements don't have to deal with India alone. China, Japan, Korea and even ASEAN members get their oil from the same place, and are even more heavily dependant on the Mid East. The vast majority (we're talking 95+%) of their oil is shipped through the IO and up the S. China sea. The very jugular vein of these countries flows right under India, and unlike India, they are in no position to do anything about it. This is a tremendous --and completely overlooked-- strategic advantage India holds over these nations.

Obviously, the only potential enemy India has with these nations is China, whose energy need requirements are in an even more critical position than India. Its pipeline projects basically all are based out of Pakistan. Even with these, the vast majority of its oil will continue to be shipped from the ME. And even the Pakistan-pipelines require shipping oil/lng from there to Pakistan in any case. The pipelines can easily be neutralized by IAF/IA. IN's role is to deny the Chinese navy access to the region, and interdict its shipping by IN's overwhelming regionalized superiority.

Any PLAN (or other navy's for that matter) increase in procurment/deployment to the IOR will be matched by IN force increase/deployments, so this superiority remains. The likely aquisition of Tu-22M3s from Russia in the next year or so will act as a strategic, long-range standoff platform with which, for example, massive E. Asian fleet entering the IOR will be hard-pressed to counter (especially given the geography of the Indonesian, etc. archipelagoes)

With regard to the second point, force-projection, what the Tsunami disaster basically displayed to the surprised world the speed, size and effectiveness of IN's deployability to troublespots in the region. India, being that its a regional superpower strategically unconstrained in its natural sphere of influence --(unlike, for example, China which is contained by strong and hostile littoral nations like Japan, Korea, Taiwan, which as well have US backing)-- has a vested interest in the surrounding states and has the ability to intervene, humanitarianly or otherwise, as was displayed with the Indian Peacekeeping Force in SL and the put-down of the invasion of the Maldives in the 80s, and by the Tsunami deployments now.

Pakistan presents no naval threat to the IN, and land-based resources are itself able to neutralize them. IN will have a supporting role (as 1971 war showed) but these will be limited to speedy missile boats and patroling vessels. The meat of IN deployment -- and where IN's capital deployments will be against Pakistan -- is that of blockade of its shoreline. India's mobilization following the Pakistani-backed terrorist attack on India's Parliament showed that this can easily be done.

Another goal of this is the ability to land troops in nearby trouble spots. The intital landings of IPKF in SL was done mostly by air, and then only after ports were secured. While IAF is going hellstrong on strategic transport capability (that itself another topic), IN is concentrating on having the ability to conduct forced landings in hostile territory. Potenial targets: Pakistan (unlike in the previous wars, Indian conventional superiority now allows India to not only fight on the border, but literally to establish a beach head in Balochistan directly to create another front bypassing traditional defended borders, and supply this front quite at want); Sri Lanka (intervening in the civil war); or Burma (any full-scale India-China war will have the PLA streaming through the Burmese jungles around the Himalay.

The fact that India has started the increase of the Marine Commando Force to regimental-plus size is telling.

The third, policing the seas is the most benign, and where there is considerable convergence with US and allies (UK, Japan, ASEAN) interest. It is in India's greatest interest that freedom of the seas is maintained around her. Piracy remains a very bad problem in SE Asia, where the hundreds of thousands of islands make for policing difficult. There is also a growing problem around Bengal and Lanka of piracy.

There is also a military reason. The rapidly growing India-US friendship has been most materially evidently shown --despite it being perhaps the most low-key-- by IN ships routinely escorting USN ships in the IOR. This was especially during the afghanistan invasion, where USN capital ships were otherwise committed.

Also India's benign foreign policy all these years have caused the ASEAN nations to rapidly turning to India as a counterbalance against China, which is seen as hostile, and even to balance America/Australia. IN escorts Singaporean, Thai, Indonesian, Cambodian and Vietnamese commercial and naval ships, as well as Japan, Australian and Korean ships transiting the sealanes there. There is joint patrolling with USN in the area already, and I've heard that Japan is invited, but I think recent developments wrt China would make them shy to stray far from home. Also, because India is a neutral country, Thailand and Indonesia requested India patrol the seaways around their country so America won't have to.

Another (main?) reason behind India's willingness to have a continuous presence in the area is to deter the PLAN from even entering the IOR through sustained forward IN deployments in and monitoring of the region.

I don't think many people really grasp how far the IN has come in recent years. From being a gorified brown-water navy through the 80s, to the 15-year plan from 2002 that will see in little over a decade -- that is, 2017 -- India having 3 carrier battle-group fleets and a fourth around a cruiser comprising upwards of 150 ships and 40 submarines, 30 MR aircraft and helicopters, 60 ASW helicopters and planes, an coast guard tripled in size, induction if indigenous nuclear submarines, and an double increase in IAF size and potency, with many more modern planes capable of long-distance ASh roles (including by that time at least sqn strength Backfires, and 4 sqn MKIs which also have standoff long-range nuclear/missile capabilites.)

What's also significant is that as IN's strength increases, it will see greater cooperation and inter-operability with USN and allied navies, especially in the Gulf and SE Asia.

=====================


Regards,
Raj
 
rajkhalsa said:
This is a tremendous --and completely overlooked-- strategic advantage India holds over these nations.

Why is it overlooked? , overlooked by whom?, the Indian Government or the major world powers?


rajkhalsa said:
Another (main?) reason behind India's willingness to have a continuous presence in the area is to deter the PLAN from even entering the IOR through sustained forward IN deployments in and monitoring of the region.

If i'm not wrong China has already built a radar facility on Myanmar's cocos islands in the bay of bengal just above the andaman islands
 
Why is it overlooked? , overlooked by whom?, the Indian Government or the major world powers?
Why is it overlooked? I guess because most people have the notion that military power is just the orbat on a sheet of paper, but don't factor in geography and the reasons why a country's military is structured the way it is. I don't think either the Indian government overlooks it (this is the reason for IN and IAF's strategic buildup) or other world powers, but it is completely overlooked in the media and among military enthusiasts from what I've seen

If i'm not wrong China has already built a radar facility on Myanmar's cocos islands in the bay of bengal just above the andaman islands
Yup, but its one thing building a listening post, and another actually having a ship. The PLAN is bottled up in the S. China sea by the USN and allies, and it knows this. It's navy is structured in a littoral role for support for a cross-straits or island invasion. For the PLAN to operate in the IOR, it would literally have to run a gauntlet of hostile nations all with localized capabilities far beyond their own outside their shore.

The threat comes when China builds enough nuclear submarines to spare some in the IO. With Pakistan also going the way of building submarines instead of surface ships for a sea-denial role, the IN is building up ASW capabilities in a big way.
 
Here's a rendering of the finalized design of the ADS

ADS.jpg



Its similar, but substantially larger, than an the famous artist's impression of the design:
image22mk.jpg
 
behemoth did you read what rajkhalsa wrote?



rajkhalsa said:
How about the Indian ocean?

90% of India's energy imports and nearly all its foreign trade goes through the Indian ocean, not to mention the almost 10,000 islands that make up India's territory.

Rather than repeat, I'll just cross-post from another post I previously made on the subject: regarding the role of the IN


Cheers,
Raj

=====================

Pecently, the IN had unveiled its new doctrine. It reflects and reacts to the new world situation and the growing importance of Asia in oil politics.

With exception of the USN, India is the dominant force in the Indian ocean region. Along with its navy, the magnitude of the shore-based IAF and missile forces can virtually deny the region to any surface force from the Malaccas to the Persian gulf. Even a hypothetical USN carrier force would not lightly tangle with this in conventional terms.

From what reseach I have done, I see the IN's role as basically three-fold -- wherein the IN must be capable of fulfilling each of these roles at the same time without compromizing on any of the other of them, viz.:
(1). A guaranteer of Indian strategic interests
(2). An independantly operateable (from the mainland, that is) instrument of localized force projection anywhere in the IOR
(3). And a policeman of free-lanes shipping in the busiest sea lanes in the world.

With regards to the first, India is heavily dependant on foreign oil for its needs. As the Indian economy continues to boom, oil requirements grow exponentially. India's relationship with Iran, UAE, Oman and even speculations in the N. African desert require adaquate security of tankers transiting from the Gulf to India's west coast. It is necessary that IN must be overwhelmingly capable of providing this security, as the Indian economy is dependant on this influx.

Even with pipeline politics and talks of pipelines from through Pakistan from Iran and the CAR, India's strategic supply of petrolium reserves is two weeks --about the time it would take to conduct any war against Pakistan or China. Those two weeks, would see whatever land-based oil lines in Pakistan obviously destroyed. India would then be forced to import its entire petrolium resources through sea-lanes, and the Indian Navy must be in a position, post-war, to protect India's shipping from any threat.

India's strategic requirements don't have to deal with India alone. China, Japan, Korea and even ASEAN members get their oil from the same place, and are even more heavily dependant on the Mid East. The vast majority (we're talking 95+%) of their oil is shipped through the IO and up the S. China sea. The very jugular vein of these countries flows right under India, and unlike India, they are in no position to do anything about it. This is a tremendous --and completely overlooked-- strategic advantage India holds over these nations.

Obviously, the only potential enemy India has with these nations is China, whose energy need requirements are in an even more critical position than India. Its pipeline projects basically all are based out of Pakistan. Even with these, the vast majority of its oil will continue to be shipped from the ME. And even the Pakistan-pipelines require shipping oil/lng from there to Pakistan in any case. The pipelines can easily be neutralized by IAF/IA. IN's role is to deny the Chinese navy access to the region, and interdict its shipping by IN's overwhelming regionalized superiority.

Any PLAN (or other navy's for that matter) increase in procurment/deployment to the IOR will be matched by IN force increase/deployments, so this superiority remains. The likely aquisition of Tu-22M3s from Russia in the next year or so will act as a strategic, long-range standoff platform with which, for example, massive E. Asian fleet entering the IOR will be hard-pressed to counter (especially given the geography of the Indonesian, etc. archipelagoes)

With regard to the second point, force-projection, what the Tsunami disaster basically displayed to the surprised world the speed, size and effectiveness of IN's deployability to troublespots in the region. India, being that its a regional superpower strategically unconstrained in its natural sphere of influence --(unlike, for example, China which is contained by strong and hostile littoral nations like Japan, Korea, Taiwan, which as well have US backing)-- has a vested interest in the surrounding states and has the ability to intervene, humanitarianly or otherwise, as was displayed with the Indian Peacekeeping Force in SL and the put-down of the invasion of the Maldives in the 80s, and by the Tsunami deployments now.

Pakistan presents no naval threat to the IN, and land-based resources are itself able to neutralize them. IN will have a supporting role (as 1971 war showed) but these will be limited to speedy missile boats and patroling vessels. The meat of IN deployment -- and where IN's capital deployments will be against Pakistan -- is that of blockade of its shoreline. India's mobilization following the Pakistani-backed terrorist attack on India's Parliament showed that this can easily be done.

Another goal of this is the ability to land troops in nearby trouble spots. The intital landings of IPKF in SL was done mostly by air, and then only after ports were secured. While IAF is going hellstrong on strategic transport capability (that itself another topic), IN is concentrating on having the ability to conduct forced landings in hostile territory. Potenial targets: Pakistan (unlike in the previous wars, Indian conventional superiority now allows India to not only fight on the border, but literally to establish a beach head in Balochistan directly to create another front bypassing traditional defended borders, and supply this front quite at want); Sri Lanka (intervening in the civil war); or Burma (any full-scale India-China war will have the PLA streaming through the Burmese jungles around the Himalay.

The fact that India has started the increase of the Marine Commando Force to regimental-plus size is telling.

The third, policing the seas is the most benign, and where there is considerable convergence with US and allies (UK, Japan, ASEAN) interest. It is in India's greatest interest that freedom of the seas is maintained around her. Piracy remains a very bad problem in SE Asia, where the hundreds of thousands of islands make for policing difficult. There is also a growing problem around Bengal and Lanka of piracy.

There is also a military reason. The rapidly growing India-US friendship has been most materially evidently shown --despite it being perhaps the most low-key-- by IN ships routinely escorting USN ships in the IOR. This was especially during the afghanistan invasion, where USN capital ships were otherwise committed.

Also India's benign foreign policy all these years have caused the ASEAN nations to rapidly turning to India as a counterbalance against China, which is seen as hostile, and even to balance America/Australia. IN escorts Singaporean, Thai, Indonesian, Cambodian and Vietnamese commercial and naval ships, as well as Japan, Australian and Korean ships transiting the sealanes there. There is joint patrolling with USN in the area already, and I've heard that Japan is invited, but I think recent developments wrt China would make them shy to stray far from home. Also, because India is a neutral country, Thailand and Indonesia requested India patrol the seaways around their country so America won't have to.

Another (main?) reason behind India's willingness to have a continuous presence in the area is to deter the PLAN from even entering the IOR through sustained forward IN deployments in and monitoring of the region.

I don't think many people really grasp how far the IN has come in recent years. From being a gorified brown-water navy through the 80s, to the 15-year plan from 2002 that will see in little over a decade -- that is, 2017 -- India having 3 carrier battle-group fleets and a fourth around a cruiser comprising upwards of 150 ships and 40 submarines, 30 MR aircraft and helicopters, 60 ASW helicopters and planes, an coast guard tripled in size, induction if indigenous nuclear submarines, and an double increase in IAF size and potency, with many more modern planes capable of long-distance ASh roles (including by that time at least sqn strength Backfires, and 4 sqn MKIs which also have standoff long-range nuclear/missile capabilites.)

What's also significant is that as IN's strength increases, it will see greater cooperation and inter-operability with USN and allied navies, especially in the Gulf and SE Asia.

=====================


Regards,
Raj
 
Xion said:
behemoth did you read what rajkhalsa wrote?



rajkhalsa said:
Pakistan presents no naval threat to the IN, and land-based resources are itself able to neutralize them. IN will have a supporting role (as 1971 war showed) but these will be limited to speedy missile boats and patroling vessels. The meat of IN deployment -- and where IN's capital deployments will be against Pakistan -- is that of blockade of its shoreline. India's mobilization following the Pakistani-backed terrorist attack on India's Parliament showed that this can easily be done.

With the religious tensions between India and Pakistan, i have always believed, along with many historians, that the most likely place for the next nuclear attack would be between India and Pakistan. That is why i said a missle defense system would be better. besides an aircraft carrier is used to attack targets which cannot be reached from current airbases. What target would India attack that it cannot reach from its current airbases?
 
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