Bharat Rakshak

Vikditty went for diesel and Vikrant-class for gas turbines. So extra steam is an issue. EMALS looks promising in that context - buy from Khan, power it up with electricity fluted from the four LM2500 (throw in one more if need be) and be done with.

if we have only two cats off the bow onlee, need to be very reliable EM cats perhaps.

but right now the Qa khan appears in no mood to share such secrets.

how is the construction of the "Carrier" dry dock (270 by 45) in Mumbai Naval Dockyard going?

The Pipavav Shipyard originally consisted of two wet basins – one approximately 680 meters long and 65 meters wide, and the other approximately 680 meters long and 60 meters wide.

The first of these has been converted into a dry dock measuring 662 meters longs, and 65 meters wide.

Austin, how is the construction of the "Carrier" dry dock (270 by 45) in Mumbai Naval Dockyard going? The contract to Hindustan Construction Company was issued in April 2010 to be completed in 48 months. Should be about halfway now?

Fabrication and erection of Antenna Room Structure for housing the MF-STAR
antenna for Kolkata Class Ships. The activity was carried out first time in the
country and had to adhere to stringent fabrication and mounting tolerances
stipulated by M/s. Israel Aircraft Industries.

This will start with our project 17a or 17 Alpha. There is another order comprising 10 frigates that should be placed before the end of this year and we will start construction thereafter.

India's project to build a seaborne aircraft carrier of its own has been delayed by two years, raising questions on the Indian Navy's ambition to emerge as a dominant player in the Indian Ocean region. China is also keen to establish itself in this area.

About two weeks ago, the US had announced its new military policy to station more naval assets, including six aircraft carriers, in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC), being built at Cochin Shipyard Limited, is facing delay in the installation of gearboxes for the four powerful engines of the 40,000-tonne warship. As per estimates arrived at by the apex committee of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) last month, the warship can now be launched by the end of this year. This will be almost two years behind its original launch deadline of October 2010.

Once the hull of the warship is launched at the sea, the outfitting is likely to take another four years, hence the warship is expected to be delivered to the Navy only by 2016, which is two years behind its original schedule. Defence Minister AK Antony had laid its keel in February 2009.

In January this year, the under-construction ship was taken out of the dry dock and stationed in the waters without some of the equipment that should have been in place.

Sources said one of the gearboxes had been fitted while another one arrived at the yard a few weeks ago. To get it fitted, the ship will have to be taken back to the dry dock. An Indo-German collaboration that supplied gearboxes for the 5,000-tonne stealth warship, INS Shivalik, was chosen in this case also. The aircraft carrier is almost 10 times bigger. The first lot of gearboxes provided by the company was unacceptable and had to be designed afresh.

The contract was to have around 18,000 tonne of the warship ready at the time of the launch, but it is still short by around 4,000 tonne, sources said. The MoD and the Navy have conveyed their displeasure to the shipyard and asked it to get the warship back to the dry dock and simultaneously continue with other works till the gearbox issue is sorted out.

The MoD had allocated Rs 230 crore for the modernisation of the shipyard. Since a modular-style construction has been adopted, it is possible to work on other equipment at another site.

The primary reason for the delay is the highly complex nature of the warship that India is attempting along with its simultaneous efforts to localise production. India is the fifth country attempting to make such a warship, which will have fighter aircraft stationed at its deck. So far, only the USA, Russia, the UK and France have produced such warships. China is re-fitting the one that it purchased from Ukraine after the USSR broke up.

Strategically, this delay will affect the Indian ambition to have two aircraft carriers in its Naval fleet. At present, India has only one, the INS Viraat, which after a life extension, is slated to retire in 2015. It is 50-year-old and the fighter aircraft on its deck, the Sea Harriers, are no more produced now. The second aircraft carrier, the Russian-origin Admiral Gorshkov, is undergoing sea-trials in Russia and is set to join the Indian fleet early next year under its new name, the INS Vikramaditya. In case the IAC is not delivered till 2015 - which is unlikely as per the present status - the Navy will be left with only one aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya.

MOSCOW, June 21. (ARMS-TASS). The aircraft carrier "Vikramaditya" Indian Navy (former Russian aircraft carrier "Admiral Gorshkov") this week successfully completes sea trials of the factory in the White Sea. This was reported by Itar-Tass source in the shipbuilding industry.

"Experts" Sevmash ", where the upgraded aircraft carrier, are deeply gratified that during the trial which began June 8 in a sea of ​​running the required characteristics of the spacecraft were not only sustained, but even exceeded," - said the source.

"The ship operates in the test crew of our Navy, on board are also commissioning team, representatives of the" Sevmash "and the officers of Indian Navy," - he added.

The source said that next week, "Vikramaditya", after loading the fuel, water and food to take a course from the White Sea to the Barents Sea, "where he will begin test flights of the deck on a ship-based aviation group decked Russian MiG-29K."

Previously, the spokesperson of the "Sevmash" Anastasia Nikitinskaya reported that "the testing program is designed for 124 days."

A source in the shipbuilding industry confirmed that the aircraft carrier "Vikramaditya" will give the Indian Navy in December of this year.

As previously reported the official representative of the United Shipbuilding Corporation Alexei Kravchenko, sea trials on factory aircraft carrier "Vikramaditya" in the White Sea, "will test the ship's main systems and components, main and auxiliary power systems, communication systems, navigation and others."

Vikki on builders trials



MiG-29K flights starting next week.

...

The chinese frigate out there ahead of P-17 looks so similar to Indian ship , Shanghai sky line looks good at night.

Ministry of Defence (MoD) has delayed the order for six additional (second lot) submarines to be bought for the Indian Navy. The decision comes at a time when the submarine fleet is getting depleted. The Defence Acquisition Council last year cleared the acceptance of necessity (AoN) for this Rs 50,000 cr deal, which will lapse in August, before which the tender has to be floated. The contract is for six submarines under Project 75 (I), which are a follow-on of the first six submarines currently being built in the Mumbai-based Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) by French company DCNS.All six submarines under the P-75 (I) contract are supposed to have the AIP (air independent propulsion) system onboard. The AIP is a technology which allows a conventional diesel submarine to operate without the need to surface and helps it to remain submerged for a longer period of time.Four global vendors are in the fray: Navantia of Spain, Rosoboronexport of Russia, DCNS of France and HDW of Germany. India has been operating Kilo-class submarines of Russian origin and German HDWs and has them in its inventory. The Spanish and Russian submarines do not have the AIP system onboard, which is why, according to sources, Russia is trying to have this clause removed from the tender requirements.Retired Vice Admiral B.S. Randhawa told this newspaper, "Two lines of different designs of submarines were supposed to run concurrently and then an evolutionary design of our own, but there has been a delay and this will affect force levels which are coming down. As AIP only helps in underwater patrols, its efficiency depends on the distance from the operating base and also on the expending stores of a submarine has to be taken into account as the storage capacity is very limited."Already grappling with a shortage of submarines, the Indian Navy is currently left with just 14 submarines comprising 10 Kilo-class and four 209-German HDWs, out of which one Kilo-class (INS Sindhurakshak) has left for Russia for overhaul and modernisation.Under the original six-submarine order, called Project-75 (worth Rs 18,798 cr), French firm DCNS is building the Scorpene at MDL. The project is already facing time and cost overruns. The order was signed in October 2005. The first submarine would be delivered in June 2015 and the last one in the second half of 2018, the Defence Minister said in Parliament last year. The government also sanctioned an additional amount of Rs 4,764.00 cr for the project.Delay in the scheduled delivery was due to initial teething problems, absorption of technology, augmentation of MDL infrastructure, etc., Parliament was informed.

For P-75 (I), along with MDL, there will be participation from the Vishakhapatnam-based Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL), which will have a private Indian partnership. Hindustan Shipyard Limited was taken over by the MoD in 2009 to build the indigenous Arihant-class nuclear submarines. L&T is already collaborating with the navy, DRDO and HSL in manufacturing the indigenous nuclear submarines. Out of the six, two will be bought from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), three will be made in MDL and one at HSL.