Indian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

(originally written by shiv aroor)Friend and colleague Shivamurthy Gurumath who was down in Visakhapatnam for the INS Kamorta commissioning on Saturday caught these MiG-29Ks at the naval air station there. Turns out a clutch of Ks from the Black Panthers squadron in Goa are ripping it over the eastern sea in preparation for the new squadron that navy intends to raise in the east. The Ks at Goa operate off the INS Vikramaditya. Most of the 37 MiG-29K and 8 MiG-29KUBs have been delivered, with the second order currently being serviced.

With MiG infrastructure coming up at Vizag's INS Dega naval air station, new MiG-29Ks will progressively be inducted here ahead of full squadron status. The Ks at the Visakhapatnam unit will spend the next few years operating much like the existing INAS 303 jets served ahead of Vikramaditya's arrival. They'll operate from shore until the new Vikrant-class indigenous aircraft carrier enters service, though that's some way off. A report by my colleague Jugal Purohit plays out today on Headlines Today. Will post the link with video pictures of the Ks at Dega.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Click to expand...

aksha said:

Navy MiG-29Ks Taste Eastern Air Ahead Of New Squadron

Click to expand...

Quon_Duixote said:

That is some serious firepower for the IN right there. While the navy's aviation arm is slowly but surely maturing, I feel that the IN would emerge as a reasonably powerful force in the next decade. It has been a slow but purposeful ride for the IN

Click to expand...

Quon_Duixote said:

which has shunned foreign imports for indigenous capability building. Forgive the irony in the current image though!

Click to expand...

​

India Today said:

Prime Minister Narendra ModiIn a groundbreaking move that will send a strong signal to China, India and Japan have firmed up their first ever defence cooperation agreement and it is expected to be signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit next month.

It's reliably learnt that the agreement is ready for the Union Cabinet to take it up for approval next week. Sources said Japan too is in the process of completing its own internal formalities ahead of the visit in the first week of September.

This will be a historic step for Japan as it will be signing its first such agreement outside its traditional alliance partners US, Australia and Britain. The decision in itself reflects Japan's changed interpretation of its pacifist constitution.

The pact, which is essentially a MoU on defence cooperation and exchanges, sets a framework for engagement, including in equipment purchase and production. Both countries have been engaged in conversations on such issues through a dialogue of senior officials and an agreement now provides a firm basis to the initiative of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in his last term.

Under this framework, sources said, the two sides will look to expand the scope of their joint exercises. India is still to take a call on whether it wants to conduct land- and air-based exercises with Japan keeping in view the levels to which China could be provoked.

Click to expand...

Jeff Head said:

I'm with you and agree right up to this point.

Not really.

In addition to the Mig-29K, which is what will make their carriers viable, they also import the following:

Vikramaditya carrier
Akula II SSN (their only SSN)
Talwar FFGs (six of them)
Kilo SSKs
Scorpion SSKs
C-17s
C-130Js
IL-76s
AN-32s
P-8Is
Tu-142
IL-38
AH-64 helos
Mi-35s
Mi-8s
Mi-17s
SU-30s
Mig-29s (Air Force)
Mirage 2000s
A50 AEW

The list goes on and on. Very impressive systems...but the majority of their major systems are still imported.

Now, I will grant you they are making progress in moving to some indigenous systems, like:

Kolkata DDG (1 just commissioned, more building)
Shivalik FFGs (3 commissioned)
Kamorta ASW FFG (1 just comissioned, more building)
Vikrant carrier (hull launched)
Arihant SSBN (1 in trials, small nuclear powered SSBN)
Tejas light attack aircraft (very late, troubled and not yet fully operational)
Hal-Dhruv
Hal LCH
Hal HJG19 (trainers)


This is good, and will help in the future, but that is still many years away before their military is even majority self sufficient.

Click to expand...

Quon_Duixote said:

Hi Jeff,
Perhaps you misunderstood my intent. My intent was to highlight the fact that the IN as a standalone force has favored indigenization more as compared to its army or air force counterparts. Majority of the hulls that are now under construction (42) are in the homegrown shipyards. Still some way to go with weapons dev and integration though and a credible submarine building capability is desired as well.

Click to expand...

Gessler said:

Someone should get a close up of the pic of Kamorta on the flexi behind the officers...

Click to expand...

​

New India Express said:

NEW DELHI: The Japanese Navy will showcase before the Indian Navy a seaplane and its operations during the ongoing trilateral Malabar maritime exercise, also involving the US Navy, off Nagasaki’s Port Sasebo in western Pacific Ocean.

The seaplane, which the Navy wants to procure and deploy in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands for maritime patrol, is built by Japanese firm ShinMaywa. US-2, as the amphibious plane is called, can take off from and land on water and is a suitable platform for operations between island territories. The Japanese Navy would operate the US-2 sea-plane during the Malabar exercise, a Navy officer said here in New Delhi.

The Indian Navy is keen on getting around 20 of these sea-planes.During the exercise, the Navy personnel from India, the US and Japan would interact between Thursday to Saturday at Port Sasebo and later their warships would venture to the deep sea for at-sea training.

The Japanese Navy would also deploy two destroyers along with a P3C Orion maritime reconnaissance plane during the exercise.

Click to expand...

The first Scorpene submarine, to be named INS Kalvari post-commissioning, is almost ready and will go on trial within a year, following which it will be inducted into the Navy in 2016.

The first Scorpene submarine, to be named INS Kalvari post-commissioning, is almost ready and will go on trial within a year, following which it will be inducted into the Navy in 2016.

The six Scorpene class of submarines will initially be based at Mumbai for trial and later shifted to their operational base at Karwar, which harbours the new aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya with its fleet of MiG-29K fighters.

Two more submarines are in the outfitting stage and are likely to be delivered to the Navy at a gap of eight months each from the commissioning of the first submarine.All the six boats would be ready for operational use by 2018-19, giving the much needed boost to the Navy’s depleting under water wing.

Following a naval tradition, in which warships never die, the new diesel-electric submarines will be named as per the old Foxtrot class boats, which were decommissioned decades ago. They were the first submarines of the Navy. The first two Scorpene submarines would be christened as Kalvari and Khanderi.

As Defence Minister Arun Jaitley and Navy chief Admiral R K Dhowan reviewed the progress in the Scorpene project at the Mazgaon dock in Mumbai, officials said the systems of the first submarine are being “set to work”, which means bulk of the manufacturing is over and what is left now is virtually tightening the nuts and bolts.

The first batch of crew of 10 Navy officers and 35 sailors, headed by the submarine’s skipper Commodore S D Mahendale, have been sent for training, sources told Deccan Herald.

Six French-origin SSK submarines are under construction in a Rs 18,798 crore project at Mazgaon dock under technology transfer from DCNS. The project is almost three years behind schedule.

Following the accidents on INS Sindhurakshak and INS Sindhuratna, the Navy currently has 14 operational submarines. But with the exception of Russian-origin nuclear powered submarine INS Chakra, most of the Indian submarines are old, necessitating mid-life upgrades. The indigenous nuclear submarine Arihant is yet to go for a sea trial.

On the contrary, China is reported to have close to 80 submarines, including more than 10 nuclear powered boats. Though Pakistan has fewer submarines, their boats are equipped with air independent propulsion technology that allows submarines to stay longer underwater.

Jaitley also inaugurated a Rs 800 crore Mazgaon dock modernisation project to enhance the yard’s ability to construct warships and submarines.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Click to expand...