Indian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Xsizor said:

Lifting stuff from another defence forum.

View attachment 74054
( due credits to the original poster. Feel free to repost it under thy name).

The carrier seem to have "done away" with the port side platform for CIWS.

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Could it also be the platform for one of the touted 76mm OTO Melara Super Rapid guns?

It is mentioned in the Naval Technology Website:

Four OTO Melera 76mm Super Rapid guns – two on the bow section and two at the stern side – will be fitted. They can fire 120 rounds a minute at a range of 30,000m.

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Though they mentioned bow section. I couldn't see where on the bow section could they install 2 x 76mm gun turrets. Unless it's on the sides of the bow section.

Why India decided to install 76mm guns on the Vikrant is probably because of some Italian (Fincantieri) influence on the design. Whether it's a good idea, it's up for debate. The Cavour aircraft carrier of Italy has 2 x 76mm guns. But unlike Vikrant, its 76mm guns are quite visible.

Could it be that, for whatever reasons, the Indian Navy decided to do away with at least one of the 76mm guns at the bow section?

Sardaukar20 said:

Could it also be the platform for one of the touted 76mm OTO Melara Super Rapid guns?

It is mentioned in the Naval Technology Website:

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Though they mentioned bow section. I couldn't see where on the bow section could they install 2 x 76mm gun turrets. Unless it's on the sides of the bow section.

Why India decided to install 76mm guns on the Vikrant is probably because of some Italian (Fincantieri) influence on the design. Whether it's a good idea, it's up for debate. The Cavour aircraft carrier of Italy has 2 x 76mm guns. But unlike Vikrant, its 76mm guns are quite visible.

Could it be that, for whatever reasons, the Indian Navy decided to do away with at least one of the 76mm guns at the bow section?

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whatever be the system ( Oto melara or Phalanx or Goalkeeper ) why do away with the platform ? Why remove it ? They could've left it empty but sawing it off seems quite odd.

Doing away with the CIWS is the secondary question but i suspect some issues with the carrier. Something way beyond the choice of ciws.

Xsizor said:

whatever be the system ( Oto melara or Phalanx or Goalkeeper ) why do away with the platform ? Why remove it ? They could've left it empty but sawing it off seems quite odd.

Doing away with the CIWS is the secondary question but i suspect some issues with the carrier. Something way beyond the choice of ciws.

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I suspect its more to do with the 76mm OTO Melara. Simply because installing that kind of gun on a carrier is definitely far more complicated than installing any CIWS.

The carrier itself is already quite screwed up already. There are few naval ships in history that has spent time under construction for more than a decade. Let alone in the 21st century.

The Vikrant is a very confused ship. It is touted to be armed with 64 VLS Barak 8 missiles, 4 x 76mm OTO Melara, and 4 x AK630 CIWS. That's sounds like mounting 2 Kolkata class DDGs worth of weapons into one STOBAR CV that is slightly larger than a Type 075 LHD.

It is no surprise that the Vikrant is having so many construction problems. Perhaps removing some of those 76mm OTO Melara is one step towards finally making this ship work.

Sardaukar20 said:

I suspect its more to do with the 76mm OTO Melara. Simply because installing that kind of gun on a carrier is definitely far more complicated than installing any CIWS.

The carrier itself is already quite screwed up already. There are few naval ships in history that has spent time under construction for more than a decade. Let alone in the 21st century.

The Vikrant is a very confused ship. It is touted to be armed with 64 VLS Barak 8 missiles, 4 x 76mm OTO Melara, and 4 x AK630 CIWS. That's sounds like mounting 2 Kolkata class DDGs worth of weapons into one STOBAR CV that is slightly larger than a Type 075 LHD.

It is no surprise that the Vikrant is having so many construction problems. Perhaps removing some of those 76mm OTO Melara is one step towards finally making this ship work.

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I wasn't aware that this ship had VLS. Sixty four cells ? Interesting indeed.
You are right. These aren't CIWS, they are naval guns.
The other large ship to have them is the Italian Trieste LHD. The INS Vikrant indeed got italian hand in design and is quite unique.

Still doesn't answer doing away with the portside platform though.

I have heard so many times that Indian AC would be commissioned. Hopefully, this time is different.

KYli said:

I have heard so many times that Indian AC would be commissioned. Hopefully, this time is different.

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I'm confident India will commission this AC next year.

But it would just be a floating ship without its punch. One can only guess when the weapons and aircrafts come online after that. Maybe by around 2023 or 2024.

Indian voice for increasing Indian nuclear stockpile.


But they're as delusional as ever ...

In the case of a nuclear strike, India’s leadership should focus on a comprehensive counter-offensive strategy aimed at removing an adversary’s ability to cause further harm to Indian interests. For this strategy to be successful India needs to drastically increase its stockpile of nuclear weapons so that it dwarfs the combined nuclear stockpile of both China and Pakistan. Such strike capability needs to be backed up by advanced real-time imagery and data fusion powered by Edge Computing that will allow precision strike of even the adversary’s road mobile and rail mobile missiles. Some of the missions now assigned to nuclear weapons may be addressed by conventional precision strike weapons, but not all of them. Some targets, such as missile silos and command and control centres, are so difficult to destroy that no conventional weapon will be able to do it. Many hard targets could be defeated with nuclear explosives with lower yields if they are delivered with precision.

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KYli said:

I have heard so many times that Indian AC would be commissioned. Hopefully, this time is different.

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It should be commissioned this year. Its beyond behind schedule at this point in time. It might probably be the last aircraft carrier that India can commission within this decade.

Having said that, I always have a deep dislike for SCMP. Despite their better insights into China compared to Western media. They always try show China in negative light. Either by hyping up dissident voices, or in this case: downplaying China, and praising India.

In this article, its just mentioned in a 'matter-of-fact' style that China already has 2 aircraft carriers and a 3rd one on its way. Almost like: "yeah big deal!" But when it talks about India's second aircraft carrier. It brings up words like: "power projection, giving India options against Beijing, keeping China in check in India's backyard, prove instrumental in an economic blockade of China, and to show India's technological prowess to the Quad and its neighbours". What? Is SCMP part of the Jai Hind crowd now?

So what if India adds INS Vikrant to its fleet? China is not preparing to fight aircraft carriers like the INS Vikrant. China is preparing to fight carriers of the Nimitz-class with F-35 airwings. How does the INS Vikrant compare to the Nimitz-class? Chinese media had never said the same thing about using own its aircraft carriers against India.

INS Vikrant is no game changer. It is just a ship that wants to be an aircraft carrier, a destroyer, and a cruiser all in the same hull slightly bigger than a Type 075 LHD. We have not heard of any news about the shakedown trials for this ship. It must be quite interesting to see how all these things can work on one ship. In any case, India still needs to import those Mig 29Ks, and fit out all those missiles and ammunition on the ship. Looking at how slow it took to put Barak missiles onto INS Kolkata, it should take at least a year.

weig2000 said:

Indian voice for increasing Indian nuclear stockpile.

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But they're as delusional as ever ...

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Delusional, India wants to dwarf the nuclear arsenal of Pakistan and China? How? If China starts to build its nuclear arsenal to levels that could provide credible deterrence to the US, this dream of India is getting even more distant. This sounds like more of the same Jai Hind talk. Like all their 'superpower India' talk.

Having said that, we should not doubt that India is capable of increasing its nuclear weapons stockpile. If India really does follow through on this threat. Pakistan and China will surely respond. India better not push China into a nuclear arms race, it is not a race that India can win.

weig2000 said:

Indian voice for increasing Indian nuclear stockpile.

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But they're as delusional as ever ...

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I don't think serious discussion has happened on the Hydrogen bomb capability of India( in this forum atleast). The author seems to have an agenda and an intent to convince that India has Fusion weapons and tries to point to the "evidence" of "radiochemical analytical estimate of S1 Fusion weapon after pokran 2 "



I don't think, after reading the above, that India has any Hydrogen bombs. A reliable one , One that can be put into a missile, One that can be mirved or delivered through various components of triad.