Bharat Rakshak

Compiled some information about INS Vikramaditya. No two sources have matching information about dimensions, armament and size of air wing. This is what seems more credible as of now. Please correct me if I'm wrong:

SPECIFICATIONS

Displacement :

38,000 tons standard
45,000-45,500 tons full load

Dimensions :

257.0 meters long waterline
283.1 meters long overall
32.7 meters waterline beam
53.0 meters flight deck width
9.5 meters draught standard
12.0 meters draught mean full load

Propulsion:

Diesel fueled 4 shaft geared steam turbines with 8 boilers, 140,000 hp

Speed:

32 knots (59 km/h)

Range:

22000 kilometers at 18 knots (33 km/h)

Armament:

8 CADS-N-1 Kashtan CIWS guns

Radar:

Phased array and/or planar radar systems

Aircraft carried:

16-24 Mikoyan MiG-29K fighters, 4-16 Ka-28 ASW and Ka-31 AEW helicopters. ALH Dhruv may be used

Aircraft launching :

14.3 degree ski-jump, STOBAR (Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery) with 3 arresting gear

Some photos at the link:
http://jjamwal.in/blog/2012/05/ins-vikr ... rrier.html

Armament[/b]:

8 CADS-N-1 Kashtan CIWS guns

...

http://jjamwal.in/blog/2012/05/ins-vikr ... rrier.html

I could not locate the Kashtan anywhere in the pictures ... so not likely there will be any - especially 8.

My guesstimate points to Barak-1 in rear port corner.

...
An official Indian CAG report adds that even when inducted, Vikramaditya will have no aerial defenses until 2017 – whereupon it is scheduled to be retrofitted with only a last-ditch CIWS gun system.
...

Maybe the plan is to use the Viraat's Barak on the Vic.

Even so, I think there is more then just money here... Even small Corvettes get a CIWS....

This could be to speed up the delivery and/or the result of the price negotiations that were done. Anyway, Barak can't be fitted in Russia and Ak-630 can be fitted in India.(Even manufactured). However, Khastan can't. It means the CIWS for Vik will be Ak630, and not Khastan.
I wonder where the original 6 Khastan systems of the Gorshkov will be used by Russia though.

Gujarat govt company Alcock Ashdown Limited today handed over a newly built Makar vessel to the India Navy.

Rs 109.89 crore catamaran hydrauligraphic survey vessel was for the first time operated today from Ghogha port of Saurashtra on maiden voyage to Mumbai.

Defense and Shipping ministries of central govt had given contract for construction of six vessels to Gujarat govt run company.

Makar is first of those six vessels.

500 tonne capacity vessel Makar is 53 meter long, 16 meter wide. It can work even in lower draft of 2.2 meter. 150 kw capacity computerized touch screen control pane, radar system, special system for emergency operation, electric control panel, AC plant, state-of-the-art survey equipments, powerful engine room, officers recreation area, VHF-VLF are some other features of this vessel.

After completion of its induction procedure at Mumbai dock yard, Makar will be known as INS Makar.

According to the release, the vessels will also be capable of limited coastal defence role in an emergency and will also have a limited search and rescue capability and limited ocean research capability.

The Indian Navy has chosen to induct a vessel with a catamaran hull form for the first time and will be one of the very few select navies in the world to operate such sophisticated platforms, the release said.

The hangar:

https://picasaweb.google.com/1179903832 ... 6172237794

Idli maker?

https://picasaweb.google.com/1179903832 ... 2233775970

Aditya_G, I get an error saying «Sorry page does not exist from both the URLs. Can you please examine?

Original Vik's pictures are removed from Pilot's website. Indian delegation at Sevmash has complained.

In pictures: Made in Gujarat,first hydrographic survey vessel ‘Makar’ handed over to the Indian Navy
Posting Inline image to show the boat. A bit of polish and it would look awesome. Nice interior pics in the link above!

In pictures: Made in Gujarat,first hydrographic survey vessel ‘Makar’ handed over to the Indian Navy

<snip>

Guys have a look on this wiki page about German Navy research vessel.
INS Makar has similar design and concept. Her speed is 15 Knots

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_class_research_ship

America’s threat to send its seventh fleet to stop liberation of Bangladesh in 1971 is a known fact. Now, 41 years later - it is America again - which wants to park its seventh fleet in the country - for its strategic interests. Worried by increasing presence of Chinese naval bases in the South China Sea - America now eyes a counter strategy - as it wants an overall presence in Asia - right from Japan to its Diego Garicia base in the Indian Ocean.

This by parking its seventh fleet in a base in Chittagong giving it both an eye on taking on China and a strategic post in Asia as it pulls out of Afghanisthan. The US State Department denying on the record that Hillary Clinton’s visits had anything to do with military co-operation.

Victoria Nuland: Please, in the back.
Question: Two questions.
Victoria Nuland: Yeah.
Question: The first one is about Bangladesh when Secretary Clinton was there. Can you confirm that she discussed the future of the seventh fleet with Bangladeshi officials? And does the State Department have a position on the future of the - home of the seventh fleet?
Victoria Nuland: That sounds like a question for the Pentagon. I will take it in terms of whether it came up in her consultations, but I don’t believe it did

Off the record, confirmation of key strategic meetings between Bangladesh and America and the recent visit of US Secretary of State Clinton. America’s concerns clearly documented in the Pentagon report as they increasingly worried over the string of pearls of Chinese bases across the South China Sea and their naval might spreading all across Asia - putting the America behind. The Bangladeshi Government remaining extremely tightlipped over the recent developments - as they have internally decided to deny it on record - fearing backlash from their own hardliners.

Reporter: Recently Hillary Clinton visited your country. She has demanded for stronger relations between Bangladesh and US. Are you exploring the options?
Ambassador: I don’t know what she has discussed and in any case this is not the fora to discuss political issues.
Reporter: US had asked to allow Chittagong port to be used as their naval base? Will you allow them?
Ambassador: I am not aware of any such requests to the best of my knowledge.

This move by America could put India on the back foot if the American fleet moves to Bangladesh, all of India’s security installations will come under the American scanner. Bangladesh is not willing to comment on record even offering explanation to deny the developments. This Clinton visit a more strategic one than just a friendly one- the Indian establishment caught unawares--as this base could cast a shadow on India’s own strategic interests.

The opposite portent, a highly improbable one, is that a Bangladesh-United States Strategic Partnership as a bipartite security understanding at some later stage may emerge on the same pattern of United States security linkage with Pakistan and all the attendant negative security connotations in its wake for India.

However, what is definitely intriguing is the American emphasis on Bangladesh’s role in the maritime security of the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. One would have thought that the United States under its Strategic Partnership understandings with India would have acceded that role to India as the dominant naval power in the region. What maritime role for Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal is the United States envisaging?
Is India being made a fool in its own backyard

The biggest impact of any evolutionary Bangladesh-United States strategic partnership would be on China with which Bangladesh has a Strategic Partnership Agreement. In Bangladesh policy circles, despite a lack of geographical contiguity, China was viewed as a countervailing power to India as the outsized and predominant power in the region.

In Chinese strategic perceptions, the coupling of the United States-India Strategic Partnership with increasing security cooperation between Bangladesh and the United States is going to be perceived as hostile.

Bangladesh would have to indulge in some very tight balancing between its China policy and the new directions unfolding in its increasing strategic engagement with the United States. Concurrently, both the United and India would have to be wary as to how China responds.

Why would India be bothered by this - IF it took place?