Indian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Engineer said:

The experience of the Indian crew does not come close to that of a new American crew... or that of China. For US and China, the crew is already familiar with the ship before the ship even hits the water. That's because both countries build their ships and know their ships inside and out. For US and China, the crew plays a significant role from sea trails until commissioning. These experience are not applicable to the Indian crew, as it was the Russians who refitted the ship and conducted the sea trials.


You keep on throwing out the number of aircraft India has, but that number does not correlate with readiness of landing and taking off from the carrier. China managed to perform takeoffs and landings with merely three aircraft.


4~6 weeks multiplied by 10 is not 35 months.

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Okay, I see, you mean from when they get back to India, not from now.

Fine.

You also said this when the Indians said they would have Initial Operational Capability in six months after arriving in India.

So, then, what you are saying is that if the Indians say they will start take-offs and landings aboard the carrier 6 weeks after arriving in India, then you are saying it will take 15 months. Is this correct?

Then you believe instead of it happening around the 1st of March, 2014, that it will happen in end of April 2015?

You also believe, by your statement earlier, that instead of having IOC in July of 2014 (six months), that it will be then January of 2019 (60 months)?

Time will tell which is closest. I believe the Indians will be landing and taking off the Vikramaditya with their own Mig-29Ks by March 2014.

Boeing said:

SEATTLE, Nov. 22, 2013 – The third Boeing [NYSE: BA] P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft for the Indian Navy arrived today in India, on schedule.

The aircraft departed Boeing Field in Seattle for Naval Station Rajali, where it joined two P-8Is currently undergoing flight trials and testing. The first P-8I arrived in India in May.

The P-8I is one of eight aircraft Boeing is building for the Indian Navy as part of a contract awarded in 2009. Based on the company’s Next-Generation 737 commercial airplane, the P-8I is the Indian Navy variant of the P-8A Poseidon that Boeing has developed for the U.S. Navy. The P-8I incorporates not only India-unique design features, but also India-built subsystems that are tailored to the country’s maritime patrol requirements.

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These aircraft are going to add significant capabilities and advancements and upgrades to India's maritime patrol capabilities.

Boeing is rocking on production of these. India has now received three P-8I Neptune aircraft, and the US Navy now has taken delivery of twelve of its P-8 Poseidon aircraft.

Jeff Head said:

India has already announced that the Virkamaditya's home port will be Karver.

After conducting exercises with the Viraat in the Arabian sea, the Vikramaditya will go there to prepare for air operations exercises within a month of arriving.

That is the Indian Navy's current stated plan.

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Ok confirmed.

I have take a look on IN OOB, for the moment only 2 CS Deepak and one LST Shardul are based in Karwar.
He seems no DD or FF based there.

For Mig-29, 16 for the squadron about 24 pilots to train definitely with Russian assistance.

Jeff Head said:

Here's a great video of the Vikramaditya during the latest firing trials. They are test firing They are test firing anti-ship missile decoys from their ZiF-121 launcher part of the PK-2 system. Shows good videos of the loading beneath decks, and of the bridge during the exercises.

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All that automation and poor guy still has to load rounds manually . Btw , rumors are circulating that Indians will attempt to land Harrier on INS Vikramaditya (from INS Viraat) during the trip home . I don't know is that even possible (could deck withstand the heat) . We shall see .

Engineer said:

Outside of this forum, I observe many people tend to view the Vikramaditya to be newer than the Liaoning even though Liaoning is technically the brand new ship. The Indian military is also seen as more advanced than China by these people. Anything that the Chinese have achieved, it is assumed that the Indians can do so several times faster. These may have to do with India being cast in a favorable light in Western media when compared to China. Of course, the reality is completely reversed. So, given the time frame you have provided, I would multiple that by a factor ten. That result would be my projection at which the Indians will be able to conduct landing and take off.

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Engineer does have a point there. The Indian media is constantly referreing to the Vikramaditya as a "super aircraft carrier" while the Liaoning a superior ship is being called a "training carrier". And outside the Indian press the Vikramaditya is being seen as a formidable asset for the Indian Navy while the Liaoning is once again referred to as a "training carrier".

As for who can get there air wing first it will depend on the shakedown the PLAN and the IN gives their respective new carriers in the coming months. If China doesn't pick up the pase in the coming months then it will be India. And it will depend also on the production rate of the J-15's.

I do find some of those Indian news comparing Liaoning and Vikramaditya to be laughable, but domestic news is there to provide optimism and pride for average folks. There was a lot of celebration when joy in Chinese public and TV news when CV-16 had its first take-off and landing. Indians should get the chance to be joyful too even if they are fed overly optimistic news. I'm sure the Indian Navy has a far more realistic view of the matter. That's why they are looking to build a 60k carrier after Vikrant.

In the end of the day, both IN and PLAN have rather flawed Soviet-era carriers that they have to make the best of while trying to develop true blue water capability.

thunderchief said:

All that automation and poor guy still has to load rounds manually . Btw , rumors are circulating that Indians will attempt to land Harrier on INS Vikramaditya (from INS Viraat) during the trip home . I don't know is that even possible (could deck withstand the heat) . We shall see .

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Flight deck should be ok. You're right the heat from direct jet blast will cause damage on decks not properly treated to withstand VSTOL however only after being done repeatedly over weeks and months. Also the Vik is a Kiev class which was originally spec'ed out to handle Yak-38s so it may very well handle the jet blast but we don't know if the entire deck has been layered with different materials or not after the refurbishment.

Besides rare take offs every once in a while even on 'regular' deck will do little if any damage. Of course you don't want to hover 10 ft over the carrier deck either!

Based on these pictures do you guys think that a MiG-29K can come up from the smaller elevator in the back ? The elevator can take 20000kg and a empty MiG-29K only weighs about 17000kg. It looks from those photo's that the MiG-29K might just fit.

Franklin said:

Based on these pictures do you guys think that a MiG-29K can come up from the smaller elevator in the back ? The elevator can take 20000kg and a empty MiG-29K only weighs about 17000kg. It looks from those photo's that the MiG-29K might just fit.

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Well , I doubt . Check the size of larger elevator :

Franklin said:

Do you guys think that a MiG-29K can come up from the smaller elevator in the back ? The elevator can take 20000kg and a empty MiG-29K only weighs about 17000kg. It looks from those photo's that the MiG-29K might just fit.

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All of the pictures I have seen of aircraft being lifted onto the Vikramaditya deck so far have been form the forward elevator.

We'd have to know the exact dimensions. Though it can lift an empty Mig-29K in terms of weight, we do not know what the physical dimensions are, or what the Indians intend in terms of what they load onto the Mig-29K in the hanger deck.