Bharat Rakshak

IAC target of 2015 was always ambitious for a SY that has no experience in building such ships , even MDL with decades of experience in building Frigates and Destroyers had delays with P-17 and it took 7 years from launch to commision.

IAC is a far bigger and complicated ship and IN is always stringent with its needs......a more practical date from launch , sea trials and commissioning with Navy will be 2019-2020 ....any thing earlier would be a bonus for Navy.

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.

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 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.

Why buy when we can make!!! India has to learn building complex naval platforms for herself, and the RnD is worthy of the time and cost, all these failures are building up the learning/skills and can be put into proper use for future projects. Singha's idea is a very good one, but instead of building a dry dock in Cochin, maybe they can make use of the dry dock with Pipavav which is the biggest dry dock in India and one of the biggest in the world. Also, the joint venture with MDL can come in handy here because MDL has good skills in integration/fitment, which can also mitigate some of the concern that the Navy might have like "If Pipavav can indeed deliver without any prior complex defence ship building experience". By this even if both the projects are delayed, when the ships see service, that would be double the punch, also the skills would be shared ones.

It has been learnt that India and Russia have already held preliminary discussions for the three additional frigates that the navy would purchase from Moscow. The talks on this issue will gain momentum when Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin arrives in Delhi on Tuesday with a jumbo delegation.

"Discussions are at a preliminary stage and it will get concretised in the coming days," said an official speaking on condition of anonymity, refusing to divulge details of the type of frigate and its features at this stage of negotiations.

However, it is understood that these frigates could belong to Krivak IV class of Russia. A Krivak IV class frigate is equipped with a 100-mm gun, a Shtil medium-range air defence system, Club-N supersonic antiship missiles, two Kashtan point defence systems, two twin 533-mm torpedo launchers, and an anti-submarine warfare helicopter.

Russia, it is understood, made the offer to supply three additional frigates. India, which is constructing seven indigenous frigates at Mumbai and Kolkata, is mulling over the proposal.

The issue was discussed last April when the two sides agreed on a roadmap of doables in several areas of military cooperation. This roadmap would be deliberated in details between Rogozin and his Indian interlocutors, officials hinted. His delegation includes Alexander V. Fomin, director of federal service for military and technical cooperation and several key Russian defence industry bosses. The discussions would also focus on supply of spare parts for Russian supplied aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF), development of Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft and much delayed aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.

This will be Rogozin's, a close aide of President Vladimir Putin, maiden visit to India. Rogozin who is the co-chairman of Russian-Indian Intergovernmental Commission on military-technical, trade, economic, scientific and cultural cooperation will hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, external affairs minister S.M. Krishna and defence minister A.K. Antony besides commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma. Russia is taking part in 20 tenders in India, with which it has a military-technical cooperation agreement until 2020.

Last month India received - INS Teg - the first of three the Stealth Talwar frigates it ordered from Russia six years ago. The 3,970 tonne P-17 project Talwar's are 124.5 meter (386 feet) long, carry 24 anti-aircraft and eight anti-ship missiles, four torpedo tubes, as well as a 100mm gun, short range antimissile guns, a helicopter, and anti-submarine weapons (depth charges and missiles).

The ship has a complete set of electronics gear. The crew strength is 180. All of the Talwars are being equipped with eight BrahMos anti-ship missile (range of 290 km) each. The Talwar is a modified version of the Russian Krivak III class.

They said the work on the next Project 17A has already started.

India has started working on its second indigenous aircraft carrier

From Russia With Love? China vs. India Carrier Showdown

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The Indian Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, the soon-to-be-commissioned INS Vikramaditya, recently took to the Barents Sea for its second shakedown cruise. After putting the ship through its paces, the Russian shipyard Sevmash will reportedly deliver it to the Indian Navy at year’s end—culminating a prolonged, painful, sometimes comical overhaul process that converted the Soviet “aircraft-carrying cruiser” Admiral Gorshkov into a more conventional flattop featuring a ski jump for vaulting short-takeoff warplanes into the skies.

Meanwhile, China’s first carrier, the Soviet-built vessel formerly known as Varyag, is underway for its longest sea trials since first casting off lines last summer. It will reportedly cruise the Bohai Sea for 25 days. Whether New Delhi and Beijing intend to build blue-water fleets around carrier task forces is no longer in question. They do, and they are.

Which aspiring sea power has the advantage in carrier aviation, China or India?

Tough to say.
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Comparison between the two carriers

L/N 4014 C/N 40611 B737-8FV P-8I N521DS (IN321) Indian Navy
Dep RNT 15:29 PDT ETA BFI ??:?? PDT via MWH
Call Sign BOE202 Hex Code 80030D
Photo Credit: Drewski (Taxying at BFI after first flight)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smartjunco ... otostream/

MURMANSK, July 16 (Itar-Tass) —— The Russian Northern Fleet has started the second stage of testing for the Indian Navy’s aircraft carrier Vikramaditya.

The purpose of the testing is to check key systems and units, the main and auxiliary power plants, as well as communication and navigation systems, Northern Fleet’s spokesman, Captain 1st Rank Vadim Serga said on Monday, July 16.

“A Northern Fleet crew is operating the ship during the trials. Many of the crewmembers acquired extensive experience of operating heavy aircraft carriers during their service aboard the heavy aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov. Also aboard the Vikramaditya are the trial team, representatives of the Sevmash production association and Indian Navy officers,” Serga said.

Naval aviation is involved in the sea trials: aircraft and helicopters fly around and over the ship in order to check its radar, air defence, communication and control systems.

During the first stage of the trials in the White Sea, the ship’s physical fields were measured, and the crew practiced fuelling and fresh water replenishing operations.

“This is a mandatory procedure for all warships and is used for their protection from mines and torpedoes that respond to the magnetic field of a ship’s body,” Sevmash spokesperson Anastasia Nikitinskaya said earlier.

“The aircraft carrier has become completely autonomous, all of its onboard systems and mechanisms are working, it has its own power plant, galley and water supply system,” Igor Leonov, who is responsible for the transfer of the ship to India, said.

The ship is scheduled to be commissioned on December 4, 2012.

Under a package inter-governmental agreement signed in New Delhi in January 2004, the body of the Admiral Gorshkov was transferred to India for free subject to its upgrading at Sevmash and armament with Russian aircraft.

Russia will also train the Indian crew of about 1,500 and create an infrastructure for the ship in the Indian Ocean.

First Scorpene submarine to roll out by 2015: Raju
Hyderabad, July 16, 2012, (PTI):

India is expected to commission its first Scorpene submarine, being developed by French naval construction group DCNS, by 2015, said Union Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju here today.

State-owned Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) is producing six SSK Scorpene submarines (P75) under transfer of technology from DCNS. Simultaneously, DCNS India, its Indian subsidiary, is working on the selection of Indian companies as partners for local production of the Scorpene's equipment.

"We are expecting the first submarine to roll out by 2015 ...we should have all the submarines by 2018. The total cost is little over Rs 20,000 crore," Raju said at a press conference here.

As per the schedule, hulks of six submarines, considered as a critical part, should be manufactured by the end of the year, he said.

To a query, he said India has got investments of Rs 20,000 crore so far due to 'Indian Defence Offset Policy', that mandates foreign defence equipment suppliers to farm out a certain proportion of the work (30 per cent of the contract value) to Indian suppliers.

Raju today inaugurated the joint facility of city-based SEC Industries and DCNS that would make 14 critical components for the Scorpene, to be supplied to MDL.
French Ambassador François Richier was also present.

DCNS India signed a contract with SEC Industries for the manufacture of high technological equipment for the P75 Scorpene submarines in September 2011; second contract was signed in May this year for additional items.

Bernard Buisson, Managing Director of DCNS India, said these contracts cover an extensive Transfer of Technology.

The Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) for the first locally- made P75 cofferdam doors and coamings was successfully performed at SEC Industries in June. The cofferdam doors and coamings are key safety components of the submarine.

2nd Boeing P-8I aircraft for India completes 1st flight

Second P-8I just had its first flight

How dare these Yanqi Khans deliver the goods so fast and spoil the good image of all other suppliers ?

The news about an extra 3 Talwars being considered is welcome.The series have been a success and built quite rapidly and economically.

did the chinese pay extra to get vl-shtil on their 054 ships ahead of the RuN itself?

did the chinese pay extra to get vl-shtil on their 054 ships ahead of the RuN itself?

Naval sources say that even for testing small weapons, ships have to move far out to sea. This not only means extra expense in terms of fuel but also time. Then there’s the fact that in the event of rough seas and during the monsoon, smaller vessels cannot risk leaving harbour. As a result, training suffers.

The environmental reasons are many. For the last three years, the Navy has been fighting a case in the Karnataka High Court over a rocky outcrop near Nethrani island off Karwar. Environment groups have won a stay on the Navy’s live fire tests there on the grounds that it is destroying underwater life. The Navy, however, suspects the environment angle may only be a ruse, that commercial interests see value in Nethrani’s location and may have plans to put up a tourist resort there.

In other words, the Navy should look elsewhere.