Indian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

MwRYum said:

However, it'll be a full decade - if without delay, that is - before IN got their hands on their first CATOBAR carrier, INS Vishal. Thus, with all these US "help" India's national policies won't stray far from US' tunes, which will make India predictable.

Click to expand...

I think it is simply a matter of making sure their design will handle the stresses of cat launches and traps. They can do traps themselves soon on the Vikram, but it will be a long time before they can check the LCA-N against catapault launch stresses. They want to do that before they go into production. So, it would have to be the US, the French, or the Brazilians they test with since they are the only ones with operational catapaults on carriers.

Since the INS has an interest ultimately in EMALS for the INS Vishal, making the arrangments with the US now makes perfect sense. I would not go too much further in psyco analysing it than that.

Economic Times said:

NEW DELHI: Moving towards completing its nuclear triad, India will activate the atomic reactor on-board the indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant next week paving way for its operational deployment by the Navy soon.

"We are gearing up for the sea trials of Arihant," DRDO chief V K Saraswat said today at an award function here.

"The nuclear reactor on-board the INS Arihant would be made critical (activated) in first week of June," sources said on the development of the nuclear submarine.

Nuclear triad is the ability to fire nuclear-tipped missiles from land, air and sea. After the nuclear reactor is activated, the agencies concerned can work towards readying the warship for operational deployments soon.

Click to expand...

Jeff Head said:

I think it is simply a matter of simply making sure their design will handle the stresses of cat launches and traps. They can do traps themselves soon on the Vikram, but it will be a long time before they can check the LCAN against cat stresses. So, they want to do that now and it would either be the US, the French, or the Braziliabns.

Since they have an interest ultimately in EMALS, making the arrangments with the US now makes sense. I would not go too much further in psyco analysing it than that.

Click to expand...

The more logical side would be that the US is the only country in the world right now that produce steam catapult launcher for aircraft carrier, and about the only nation known to have a working specimen of the EM catapult, if you don't include the ones that are slated to install onto the upcoming Gerald Ford Class CVN, all that pointed to the US will be without a doubt going to win an order for the cats that will be installed onto the INS Vishal.

Sure the Indian would want to locally produce something like that eventually, but if they want the INS Vishal not to overshoot the construction schedule they'd better off to buy from the US this time.

MwRYum said:

The more logical side would be that the US is the only country in the world right now that produce steam catapult launcher for aircraft carrier, and about the only nation known to have a working specimen of the EM catapult...all that pointed to the US.

Click to expand...

Uh...I think that is pretty much exactly what I said in my post. So I agree 100%.

Now, exactly what type of catapault the Vishal shall have, I am not sure. It is a matter of whether the US will sell its EMAL technology, and I do not believe that is a sure thing at this point.

But, the US will definitely have working, updated, and the most capable steam catapaults available from the USS Enterprise which was decommissioned late last year, and then later from the USS Nimitz, when it decommissions in 3-4 years (not to mention those available from several other decommissioned super carriers that have not been disposed of yet).

Jeff Head said:

Now, exactly what type of catapault the Vishal shall have, I am not sure. It is a matter of whether the US will sell its EMAL technology, and I do not believe that is a sure thing at this point.

Click to expand...

India loves to aim for the moon, though whether feasible or not is something they never give it a thought, every single time...

Jeff Head said:

Uh...I think that is pretty much exactly what I said in my post. So I agree 100%.

Now, exactly what type of catapault the Vishal shall have, I am not sure. It is a matter of whether the US will sell its EMAL technology, and I do not believe that is a sure thing at this point.

But, the US will definitely have working, updated, and the most capable steam catapaults available from the USS Enterprise which was decommissioned late last year, and then later from the USS Nimitz, when it decommissions in 3-4 years (not to mention those available from several other decommissioned super carriers that have not been disposed of yet).

Click to expand...

Jeff, has any further delay been reported for the Indian indigenous carrier? Those young pilots will have more than enough time to learn from the Americans.

cn_habs said:

Jeff, has any further delay been reported for the Indian indigenous carrier? Those young pilots will have more than enough time to learn from the Americans.

Click to expand...

To be fair, I believe that the LCA-N will operate off of both the Vikrmaditya and the Vikrant before the Indians ever produce a catobat carrier. The Vikramaditya will be complete with her sea trials and handed over to India this year.

I expect both their new Mig-29Ks and the LCA-N to operte off of her, the Migs first.

Testing the LCA-N with the US Navy is simply a way to ensure that the aircraft can handle catapault launches before they go to production with them.

There might come a time when India has 3 carrier strikes groups

This means at anyone time they can send two into action, one will be based on the Western front in the Indian Ocean and one in the East

In time of war one will see action against Pakistan, we can imagine the panic in the Indian high command if China sends down a carrier task force to approach the Andaman Islands which means one carrier of the Indian navy will always be in the East to deter a force from China

Which really means one carrier strike group to throw into a war against Pakistan, will 16 Mig-29K change the outcome of the war?? I guess not but it will give India the extra advantage

In time of war there is no doubt China will mobilise its forces, it was ready to move a entire Chengdu army group during conflict of 1999, so in any future conflict Indan will always have to consider a war on two fronts not just one

asif iqbal said:

Which really means one carrier strike group to throw into a war against Pakistan, will 16 Mig-29K change the outcome of the war?? I guess not but it will give India the extra advantage

Click to expand...

I guess NO, particularly since PN is assigning 6-7 Sqds (1 JF17/3 F-7PGs/3 Mirage Vs with Ra'ad cruise missiles) around 136 aircrafts under PAF umbrella along the coastline (Jiwani/Pasni & Karachi) with ZDK-03.

Lots of activity in Indain purchases of US equipment. The P-8s, the C-130Js, the AH-64Ds, and soon the Indian Air force will receive its first C-17 Globemasters.

SPs Aviation said:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

May 20, 2013: The Indian Navy isn't the only service that gets the bask in the glow of a brand new American-built bird. The IAF will soon welcome to India its first Boeing C-17 Globemaster-III heavy-lift transport aircraft, due to arrive in the May-June time frame, so teams are all set to ferry the first bird back to homebase, Hindon AFS.

All ten aircraft will be delivered by the end of 2014, by which time operations will already be in full swing. Batches of Indian pilots and loadmasters have been undergoing training with the USAF at Altus, Oklahoma and will be the lead teams that bring in the C-17 into Indian service.

Click to expand...