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PUNE: The naval variant of light combat aircraft (LCA) 'Tejas' will soon undergo carrier compatibility tests at the newly commissioned shore-based test facility at the Indian naval base INS Hansa in Goa, the LCA's programme director Kota Harinarayana told TOI on Friday.

"Before we go to the ship, we have to do something on the ground that is similar to the ship," Harinarayana said, while pointing out that the shore-based test facility is primarily a ramp - similar to the ones on aircraft carriers - which facilitates ski-jump take-off and arrested landing of a naval aircraft. "The aircraft will go to the test facility in a month's time," he added.

"Apart from enabling carrier compatibility, the new facility will aid certification of the LCA naval variant, which is critical to the LCA's future induction in the Indian Navy," he said.

The LCA (Navy) is India's first indigenous effort to build a carrier-borne naval fighter aircraft, a vital ingredient in the Navy's expansion plans. It is designed to operate from future indigenous aircraft carriers that the Indian Navy plans to acquire.

Harinarayana is regarded as the chief architect of the LCA programme, which was launched in 1980 as part of the plan to replace the Indian Air Force's (IAF) ageing fleet of MIG-21 aircraft. He spoke to TOI on the sidelines of a talk on 'Aircraft designing in India', jointly organised by the Centre for Advanced Strategic Studies and the Aeronautical Society of India. Former vice-chief of air staff Air Marshal (Retd) Bhushan Gokhale chaired the event.

In December 2013, the IAF gave its operational clearance to the LCA Air Force variant and also cleared the same for full-scale production at the Hindustan Aeronautical Limited facility in Bangalore, Harinarayana said. "We expect the aircraft to be rolled out for induction into the Air Force later this year and hopefully the IAF will raise an independent squadron for the LCA," he said.

He said, "The IAF has placed an initial order of 40 LCAs which are to be delivered over the next four to five years. We have their (IAF's) commitment for another 80 to 90 LCAs in future. The Air Force and Navy collectively require 200 LCAs."

Harinarayana added that the LCA had also evinced keen interest from foreign countries. "However, our immediate focus is on meeting the Air Force and Navy's requirement for the next three years. Supply to foreign countries remains a part-commercial, part-diplomatic matter, and may still take some time to come through. The priority for now is to enhance the production capacity and to continue working on the LCA Mk-II variant, which is expected to go operational in four to five years following flight and other tests."

He conceded that both LCA variants will work on the imported GE-404 engines as it will take some more years for the indigenously developed Kaveri engine to be ready for use in these aircraft. "We still have to fully achieve the reliability and performance of the Kaveri engine. We have tested for 50 hours' flying in a transport carrier, but we still have to improve," he said.

Apart from enabling carrier compatibility, the new shore-based test facility will aid certification of the LCA naval variant, which is critical to the LCA's future induction in the Indian Navy.

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INS Kochi, the second ship in the INS Kolkata class of stealth destroyers, will commence sea trials in June, an important step before the ship is accepted and commissioned by the Indian Navy. Constructed at the Mazgaon Docks Limited (MDL) in Mumbai, the ship has finished basic construction according to MDL officials and only the “outfitting” of external equipment and cabling work remains.
Laid down on October 25, 2005, the ship is a part of the Project 15A which involves three ships to be constructed at the MDL, the two others being the INS Kolkata and the INS Chennai. While the Kolkata has finished sea trials and outfitting, it is expected to be commissioned by the Indian Navy very soon. “The Kochi has finished the primary stage of construction and the sea trials should start by May or June. However, the machinery trials have already been conducted in February. We are working very hard towards finishing the project,” said MDL’s CMD Rear Admiral (retired) Rahul Kumar Shrawat.
Although installation of the major equipment like the radars and weapon systems will be done after the sea trials, basic navigation and communication equipment have been fitted for bare minimum readiness during the trial sailing. “After the trials, the outfitting will take place but the most important part is the intricate cabling, electrical and electronic work which often takes the most time since it is complicated. The piping work would also be done at this stage. This would be followed additional testing of the outfitted equipment by us and the Navy,” added Mr. Shrawat.
The Kolkata-class boats are the second such stealth warships to join the Indian Navy, with the first one being the Shivalik-class stealth frigates — also built at MDL — which have already been commissioned into service. These include the INS Satpura and INS Sahyadri, apart from the INS Shivalik.

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Indian Navy pleased with P-8I performance on first op deployment
By SP's Special Correspondent

March 31, 2014: It was to scout the site of a tragedy that the Indian Navy had been enlisted for, but it also happened to be the first live operational deployment of its P-8I long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft. The hunt for ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight MH-370 saw three P-8I aircraft deployed from Arakkonam for duties from INS Utkrosh, with one aircraft subsequently deployed to Kuala Lumpur for Malaysia-led search operations in the Southern Indian Ocean. Naval sources say the P-8I performed excellently, and the crew had a chance to stretch the aircraft's legs in a live operational scenario in a networked environment, communicating with military aircraft from other countries and ground stations. While the P-8I type was fielded at the TROPEX 14 exercise as well, the hunt for MH-370 was its first real-world object-oriented mission. A US Navy P-8A was also in the air over the Indian Ocean as part of search operations. The two major components that the Indian Navy P-8I has which aren't fitted on the P-8A are Telephonics APS-143 OceanEye aft radar and a magnetic anomaly detector (MAD). Sources say crew got a chance to see what each of the subsystems and sensors were capable of on a long-range mission

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12 April 2014

INS Shivalik will take part in the International Fleet Review being organised by the People’s Liberation Army Navy at the Qingdao port on April 23-24.

In a rare show of camaraderie, naval ships of Pakistan, China and India would take part in joint exercises being organised to celebrate the 65th founding anniversary of the Chinese navy.

INS Shivalik, an indigenously-built Indian stealth frigate, will take part in the International Fleet Review being organised by the People’s Liberation Army Navy at the Qingdao port on April 23-24, the Indian Embassy said in a statement.

The event also included exercises.

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Officials say Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also the head of the PLA, is expected to take part in it.

India has taken part in a similar event organised by the Chinese Navy in connection with its 60th anniversary in 2009.

Significantly, Shivalik will be taking part in the exercises along with a Pakistani naval ship which is also an invitee.

About eight to 10 ships of different countries are expected to participate in the event.

The visit of Shivalik to the Chinese port “highlights the friendly exchanges and bilateral defence cooperation between the two countries”, the statement said.

The countries declared this year as a ‘Year of Friendly Exchanges’. — Online

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MUMBAI: The gas leak on board the Kolkata Class missile destroyer occurred during testing for "peculiar problems" the warship was facing — all major components are functioning well separately, but start misbehaving when put in tandem — sources said. This accident, alongside the INS Sindhuratna fire last week and the INS Sindhurakshak blasts in 2013, happened during trial runs.

The commissioning of the ship, scheduled this year, may now be delayed.

"The warship's engine, the gear box and the shaft, all are doing well separately but the ship starts making a noise when all these function simultaneously. A thorough check of the entire machinery to correct the technical snag was on when the incident occurred," the source added.

The carbon dioxide leak killed Commander Kuntal Wadhwa, 42, who was inspecting the warship's engine room on Friday afternoon. An engineering officer, Wadhwa had topped in his batch. He is survived by his wife, a 12-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter. He served the Indian Navy for more than over 18 years. His parents reside in New Delhi.

"The officer's body was taken to JJ Hospital for autopsy and forensic tests before it is handed over to the family members who will arrive from New Delhi," said an official.

Two MDL personnel present near the warship were also taken to hospital for check-up after they complained of suffocation. They were discharged after being provided with medical assistance.

Yard-701 belongs to a class of stealth guided-missile destroyers constructed for Indian Navy. The class comprises three ships—Kolkata, Kochi and Chennai—all of which are being built by MDL. The most modern destroyer in the country, it is to be commissioned in a few weeks. It is currently at MbPT, undergoing trials.

Representatives from Mazgaon Dock Ltd (MDL) will also be associated with the inquiry set up by the Navy. The department of defence production, ministry of defence, has also asked for a detailed report from MDL. An MDL spokesperson said, "The incident would not affect the warship's commissioning scheduled in the next few weeks. There is no physical damage onboard. There was a gas leak. The ship will be commissioned on time."

At the time of the incident, the ship was at MbPT undergoing machinery trials. "The officer who died was the designated officer of the yet-to-be commissioned warship. He was present during trials along with more than 40 Indian Navy personnel when the incident occurred," the spokesperson said.

Due to delays in their construction and a problem found during sea trials, the initial commissioning date of the first ship of the class was pushed back from 2010 to 2014.

The tragedy has taken place 10 days after fire broke out onboard submarine INS Sindhuratna on February 26 morning, killing two officers—Lieutenant Commander Kapish Muwal and Lieutenant Manoranjan Kumar—and injuring several due to suffocation.

On August 14 last year, three officers killed and 15 crews injured in submarine INS Sindhurakshak. In all the three incidents, the warships malfunctioned during trial runs.

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