Indian Naval Discussion

[MN Kumar]

^^Why is an Su-33 landing on it?

I guess its not landing. The tail hook is not lowered. It looks like a touch n go.

[nits]

Any idea; which sub is near Vik...

[Singha]

a typhoon SSBN.

[AbhiJ]

Very Good News for India. We should consider for P75I:

Australian Navy Eyeing Off New Japanese Submarines

THE admiral in charge of planning for Australia's next generation of submarines and the chief defence scientist are studying an advanced new submarine in service with the Japanese navy.

Rear-Admiral Rowan Moffitt, head of the Royal Australian Navy's Future Submarine Program, and Dr Alexander Zelinsky, the Chief Defence Scientist, travel to Japan this month to look at the Soryu-class submarines, which started service with the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force three years ago.

Access to the Soryu technology was discussed during a visit to Australia last month by the Japanese navy's chief, Admiral Masahiko Sugimoto. It was only in December that Tokyo lifted its post-World War II embargo on defence exports.

The 4200-tonne Soryu-class boats are the only new conventional submarines of the size and capabilities set out in Canberra's 2009 defence white paper for 12 new submarines to take over from the Collins-class subs from the late 2020s.

''Our strategy with the Japanese is one of hope, because there are some very attractive characteristics about the Japanese submarine,'' Rear-Admiral Moffitt said.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/navy-eye ... 21pgb.html

[SNaik]

^^Why is an Su-33 landing on it?

I guess its not landing. The tail hook is not lowered. It looks like a touch n go.

Exactly. Su-33 are not going to land they are just checking landing approaches and other equipment. MiGs are scheduled to start flying next week.

[Singha]

>> The 4200-tonne Soryu-class boats are the only new conventional submarines of the size and capabilities set out in Canberra's 2009 defence white paper for 12 new submarines to take over from the Collins-class subs from the late 2020s.

I was the one who first pointed out the Soryu was the only ticket for our P75I ...notwithstanding various euro-pretenders trying to scale up 3X from usual size and offering themselves as contenders. the Aus is being realistic for once and not going full blast for 688I refurbished subs which is also an option.

I hope we dont end up with a small sub like Scorpene for p75I. its already late. being small and late is worse.

you can see the size of Soryu compared to humans here. its big http://www.military-today.com/navy/soryu_class_l3.jpg
should be able to accomodate brahmos/nirbhay 8pack with a slight extention.

[Yogi_G]

I was wondering why the Aussies would go for a bigger sub given its higher complement of personnel and their dismal staff issues, the high level of automation in the Soryu makes sense.

[Singha]

Aus needs range and endurance to bring their subs into action in south china sea .... there is no escaping that req for them. everything they use needs to have range and loiter time. the FB111 was also purchased with that in mind - the ONLY overseas buyer.

[kit]

>> The 4200-tonne Soryu-class boats are the only new conventional submarines of the size and capabilities set out in Canberra's 2009 defence white paper for 12 new submarines to take over from the Collins-class subs from the late 2020s.

I was the one who first pointed out the Soryu was the only ticket for our P75I ...notwithstanding various euro-pretenders trying to scale up 3X from usual size and offering themselves as contenders. the Aus is being realistic for once and not going full blast for 688I refurbished subs which is also an option.

I hope we dont end up with a small sub like Scorpene for p75I. its already late. being small and late is worse.

you can see the size of Soryu compared to humans here. its big http://www.military-today.com/navy/soryu_class_l3.jpg
should be able to accomodate brahmos/nirbhay 8pack with a slight extention.

I don't think the GOI / IN is seriously contemplating the Soryu but it does seem to be ideal for IN second line of subs.. will the japs sell it is the question .. it would take Indo Jap military cooperation to unprecedented levels.

''Their submarine, by all accounts, and their design and the evolution of that design, has by all accounts brought them to the point of having a very good submarine,'' Rear-Admiral Moffitt said.
''However, submarine technology tends to be crown-jewel stuff for nations, it tends to be at the most extreme end of sensitivity that nations have about protecting their intellectual property - especially if they have developed it themselves, as Japan has, as the US has. They've invested a vast amount of money doing that.''


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/navy-eye ... z20QS9c7Tp

[nakul]

I doubt that will come thru without VLS tubes. The IN apparently wanted VLS as one of the requirements of p75I.

[kit]

a typhoon SSBN.

that beast is nearly gorky's length !

[member_19648]

that beast is nearly gorky's length !

They are the biggest subs ever built at 175 m!

[nachiket]

Exactly. Su-33 are not going to land they are just checking landing approaches and other equipment. MiGs are scheduled to start flying next week.

The first pic shows a Mig-29 already on it. So they must have done one landing at least. That's why I got confused with the Su-33 coming in.

[Eric Leiderman]

Not necessarily , the plane/s may have been loaded up fm ashore by crane

[Kartik]

Not necessarily , the plane/s may have been loaded up fm ashore by crane

yes indeed- that is the non-flying MiG-29K prototype before the new unified MiG-29K/KUB family was developed. It was loaded on to the INS Vikramaditya via a crane and is used for non-flying tests aboard the carrier as of now.

[SNaik]

Exactly. Su-33 are not going to land they are just checking landing approaches and other equipment. MiGs are scheduled to start flying next week.

The first pic shows a Mig-29 already on it. So they must have done one landing at least. That's why I got confused with the Su-33 coming in.

No. That bird didn't land. Was transferred by a crane still at shipyard.

[sum]

Indian Navy creates exclusive cyber warriors cadre

With cyber terrorism on the rise and the fight against it getting acute, the Indian Navy will soon have an exclusive cadre of cyber warriors to combat the menace and to counter the ubiquitous attacks of hostile hackers.

For the purpose, the Indian Navy has set in motion the process of recruiting its first batch of dedicated officers for information technology who would work at creating networks for the maritime force, man the networks and maintain the systems. The navy thus becomes the first of the Indian armed forces to create such a cadre of officers from among its executive branch, instead of the technical branch.

It is now looking at recruiting engineering, information technology and computer science graduates as short service commissioned officers for whom the training will begin in December.

Unfortunately, for women who may be interested in such a career, the navy's cyber warrior cadre, as of now, will be only an all-men affair. Only about two months ago, the navy had created a separate cell for communications, space and network centric operations (CS&NCO) under a rear admiral-rank officer, who would function as the assistant chief of naval staff (CS&NCO).

Though not a direct reason for setting up this exclusive information technology cadre, the Indian Navy had faced one of its worst cyber attacks on its Eastern Command headquartered at Visakhapatnam when a pen drive used by some of its officers had led to sensitive, secret information being passed on to China due to a malware in the device.

The navy had set up a probe into the role of six of its officers for breaching the cyber security protocol at Visakhapatnam.

[kit]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/HTNext/Li ... 88447.aspx

Probably something India could plan as well to keep out where Chinese or paki subs are not needed !

[Christopher Sidor]

^christopher. shallow depth of china brown water belt is unsuitable for submarine ops and a few SSN salvos wont even take a bite off coastal shipping. its better to hit the power plants themselves using stealthy SLCMs.

Actually if we sink a few coastal ships it will create a threat, which will for all practically purposes keep these ships tied to their harbors. It is the proper application of this threat which will be of use to us. These two approaches, i.e. threat to coastal shipping and taking out the plants themselves will complement each other.
Not only that, with the Chinese economy expected to depend on exports and imports a lot, more than India, the threat will also choke the flow of sea borne trade to China.

It is not only essential to defeat the enemy on the battle field but it is also essential to weaken his ability to wage a war, hence the need to target the economic base of China.

[member_20036]

The "I" in P-8I stands for India. That is because the aircraft has incorporated into it customisations, which includes certain systems developed in India & removal of some American systems whose exports are prohibited by U.S legislations, In addition, India's has also refused to accede to America's demands for signing with it agreements, among which is the Communication Interoperability & Security Memorandum of Agreement [CISMOA], that demands compatibilityof communication systems used on India's weapon platform with the American communication equipment. Such communication equipment that India would be bound have on board the system [theP-8I, in this case] would be provided to it by the Americans themselves. Any removal of this equipment from the weapon platform owned & operated by India, would require thatIndia take prior permission from the Americans before proceeding. In addition, America, upon signing the agreement, would be within its rights to demand an inspection of the communication equipment, as and when it deems necessary, and India would be duty-bound to take the American inspectors to carry out their jobs.
Indigenous systems on-board the aircraft include,
*.
Identification Friend or Foe [IFF] Interrogator developed by the Bharat Electronics Ltd. [BEL]
*.
Identification Friend or Foe [IFF] Transponders by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited [HAL]
*.
Mobile Satellite Service [MSS] System built by the Hyderabad-based Avantel Limited
*.
Speech secrecy system supplied by the Electronic Corporation of India Limited
*.
Weapons bay door by HAL
*.
Data Link II designed & developed by BEL
*.
Auxiliary Power Unit [APU] Door Fairing by the Tata Advanced Materials [TAM]
*.
Tailcone of the aircraft by HAL
*.
Nose Radar radome by TAM
*.
Power & Mission equipment cabinets supplied by Dynamitcs Technologies Limited
*.
Radar Fingerprinting System by BEL
It also appears that the Navy has chosen to arm it with the Harpoon asits Anti-Ship Cruise Missile, one that isalready in the Indian inventory. The Americans are expected to arm theirswith the Standoff Land Attack Missile[Extended Range] [SLAM-ER].
While the Indian Navy has placed a confirmed order of 12 of these aircrafts, some reports suggest that the number could rise to 24. These American aircraft are being acquired to replace the older generation of Soviet-era Tupolev Tu-142 maritime aircrafts, that the Navy currently operates.
Yesterday, Boeing announced the commencement of flight test of the first P-8I already built. Upon completion of trials, it is expected to be delivered to India next year, in 2013.
"During the coming months, Boeing test pilots will put the P-8I, a Next-Generation 737-800 derivative, through its paces over a U.S. Navy test range west of Neah Bay, Wash., and a joint U.S./Canadian test range in the Strait of Georgia.
"Today's flight is another on-time milestone for the program," said Leland Wight, Boeing P-8I program manager. "We'll start out testing the P-8I's mission system, which includesits sensors and communication systems. The team then will transition to 'stores' tests during which the P-8I will carry inert weapon shapes under its wings to demonstrate that the aircraft is capable of carrying all the weapons the Indian Navy will use during regular missions.""

http://www.aame.in/2012/07/p-8i-poseido ... ft-of.html

[Roperia]

Shameful state of affairs. According to the schedule, the carrier was supposed to be 25k pounds by Oct 2010, it is just 14k pounds in July 2012.

India’s aircraft carrier ambitions take a dive | TOI

...
Construction schedule of the 40,000-tonne indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC), being built at Cochin Shipyard in defence minister AK Antony's home state, has "slipped another three years'' behind the already-revised timelines.
...
"The fact is IAC will not be ready anytime before 2017. In a recent high-level meeting, the Cochin Shipyard was sharply pulled up for this huge delay,'' said a defence ministry source.
...
"IAC, whose keel was laid in February 2009, was to be 'launched' with a weight of around 25,000 tonnes by October 2010. But that is yet to happen. Prematurely floated out of the dry dock last December due to delays in gear boxes and other systems, IAC is just about 14,000 tonnes at present,'' he said
....
The first contract for IAC till its "launch'', sanctioned in 2002-2003, was pegged at Rs 3,261 crore. But there has been a huge cost escalation since then, with the second contract from "launch to completion'' yet to be even inked.

This effectively torpedoes Navy's plan to have two potent CBGs by 2015.
...
The second CBG was to revolve around the IAC. But Navy will now have to further stretch the operational life of its present solitary carrier, the 28,000-tonne INS Viraat, beyond 2014. Already over 50 years old, Viraat is also relatively toothless with just 11 Sea Harrier jump-jets left to operate from its deck. The 45 MiG-29K naval fighters, being procured from Russia for $2 billion, can operate only from Vikramaditya and IAC.
...
India also has a 65,000-tonne IAC-II on the drawing board but the delay in IAC-I has derailed it. The 260-metre-long IAC-I is supposed to carry 12 MiG-29Ks, eight Tejas Light Combat Aircraft and 10 anti-submarine and reconnaissance helicopters on its 2.5-acre flight deck and hangars.

[Singha]

its better additional facilities be built up at Kochi and IAC-II block construction start well before the IAC-1 completion. else we will not see IAC-II before 2030 at the least.

[Will]

Why isnt anyone surprised anymore with delays these days IAC 2 should be started asap. Take americian help if needed. They did offer to help in building the carriers. Alternatively buy one of the Elizabeth class carriers

[kit]

Shameful state of affairs. According to the schedule, the carrier was supposed to be 25k pounds by Oct 2010, it is just 14k pounds in July 2012.

India’s aircraft carrier ambitions take a dive | TOI

...
Construction schedule of the 40,000-tonne indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC), being built at Cochin Shipyard in defence minister AK Antony's home state, has "slipped another three years'' behind the already-revised timelines.
...
"The fact is IAC will not be ready anytime before 2017. In a recent high-level meeting, the Cochin Shipyard was sharply pulled up for this huge delay,'' said a defence ministry source.
...
"IAC, whose keel was laid in February 2009, was to be 'launched' with a weight of around 25,000 tonnes by October 2010. But that is yet to happen. Prematurely floated out of the dry dock last December due to delays in gear boxes and other systems, IAC is just about 14,000 tonnes at present,'' he said
....
The first contract for IAC till its "launch'', sanctioned in 2002-2003, was pegged at Rs 3,261 crore. But there has been a huge cost escalation since then, with the second contract from "launch to completion'' yet to be even inked.

This effectively torpedoes Navy's plan to have two potent CBGs by 2015.
...
The second CBG was to revolve around the IAC. But Navy will now have to further stretch the operational life of its present solitary carrier, the 28,000-tonne INS Viraat, beyond 2014. Already over 50 years old, Viraat is also relatively toothless with just 11 Sea Harrier jump-jets left to operate from its deck. The 45 MiG-29K naval fighters, being procured from Russia for $2 billion, can operate only from Vikramaditya and IAC.
...
India also has a 65,000-tonne IAC-II on the drawing board but the delay in IAC-I has derailed it. The 260-metre-long IAC-I is supposed to carry 12 MiG-29Ks, eight Tejas Light Combat Aircraft and 10 anti-submarine and reconnaissance helicopters on its 2.5-acre flight deck and hangars.

a couple of queries to those who know.The Cochin shipyard is highly unionized.Is there a chance bribes/under dealings to those or with the suppliers can delay the whole project ? China is very active in India in denying or slowing supply / access to equipment / resources especially to key defence projects.The AWACS project with Israel has already been delayed due to short supply of some vital equipment which Israel does not make.Any knows what exactly is going on here ? The shipyard is already used to modular ship building for some time now and was one of the first in the country to do so

[Austin]

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.

[member_19648]

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.

Cochin shipyard is the only one having modular construction setup and they did a good job with indigenous refit of INS Viraat, so they were entrusted with building IAC, I guess. Neither MDL nor GRSE have modular construction setup and are being upgraded now which might have some effect on ongoing construction work. Also, the problem with the delays is due to delayed deliveries of Turbines/gear boxes/weapon suites both for Shivaliks and IAC.

[Austin]

I suppose they could not refit Viraat any where other then cochin as it only had the capacity to handle big ship.

But building a new ship like Aircraft Carrier is magnitude of order far complex task and modular construction is just one part of the big jigsaw puzzle , assuming CSL has ever built a huge ship using modular construction or IAC is the first of its kind to be built using such methods.

I think with delays the final cost of IAC will also go up by how much remains to be seen .....a more accurate figure for IAC will emerge when the ship gets commissioned.

[Singha]

its crucial that another drydock and piers of larger size be made there in parallel so that we can have 2 carriers always in construction. these are very long lead items for most nations and getting 2 every decade is better than 1 a decade.

[Philip]

When the project was first touted to be built at home and at Cochin,it all seemed highly ambitious and too good to be true.Sadly,yet again our desi yards hve been found wanting.Admittedly,there are good reasons,but we always seem to suffer from the "no one is acountable,therefore no one is at fault" syndrome.We reward the underachievers with padma awards and fat pensions and perks for the incompetent.The only silver lining in the clouds is that the Gorky/Vik is undergoing her sea trials and should be commissioned into the IN by early 2013 or as hoped by Navy Day 2012 ,and that the Viraat can still manfully soldier on if looked after with care until her tiny fleet of Sea Harriers last out.Even here we have lost the opportunity of picking up a dozen or two ex-RN Harriers ,70+ which were in excellent condition from the RN,who have now sold the entire lot,stock and barrel to the USMC!

At this rate,the IAC-2,which is to be a larger carrier of 65,000t+ if built in India,will only kiss water sometime in the next decade! This is a serious development especially when viewed in the context of the PLAN's massive naval ambitions.The IN should seriously think of buying the second RN carrier beign built for a cash-strapped RN if the RN is willing to sell it.It does appear that for some time to come,the IN's MIG-29Ks will be operating from naval air stations in the main.

[NRao]

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.

Is it the yard or is it the supplier to the yard, that is the problem?

I suspect, as it was stated WRT subs and some MMRCA components, Indian companies are not mature enough to absorb modern technologies. Heard something like that the hay used during transporting some gear boxes caught fire, etc. If that story is true, then the situation is pathetic, BUT correctable -perhaps at some extra cost. But such delays have a cost too that should offset any cost associated with upgrading technology support.

This one, like many others, reek of a lack of project management.

[member_19648]

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.

[member_19648]

Btw, I was reading an earlier report and it seems, the delay was projected some time back only. Now, the news has come out for an additional one year delay, the plan for operating 2 CBGs by 2015 was scuttled long back owing to the complexity of the project.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120620/nation.htm

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.

[Singha]

Spain(principe de asturais, juan carlos) and Italy(guieseppe garibaldi, cavour etc) have also produced carriers and large LHDs.
so has Japan in the Osumi class and Soko in the Dokdo class.

we need to stop hiding behind the fig leaf of "onlee a few gora nations have done this so far". we dont have a right to be a Top10 industrial power and still hide our faces.
sure its complex, but we have only ourselves to blame for not being a leading commercial ship building nation already which would mean the people, process , tools and yards would be in place for the surge. only defence related high tech can never pull up a country, overall the state of knowledge and industry has to advance.

no thanks to the NAC tards for this.

[Will]

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.

You got a point there. Having ships built at private shipyards can give you the felxibility of working in 2-3 shifts if there is the need. Someone mentioned in here that govt shipyards work a 9-5 shift.

[Philip]

This is what one said.No accountability for PSUs or their heads like "Tatra" Natrajan,and sabotage local industry from competing with the pSUs.See how MD derailed the opportunity for L&T (who have built much of the ATV),etc.,to build the second line of subs ,while they delay and dawdle over the Scorpene production! If Indian pvt. industry is given the chance to build ships and subs and aircraft fo the nation,these timewasters in the PSUs will be jobless an their "extras" and perks enjoyed,as we've seen in the Tatra scam will come to an end.However,to end this incompetence,one requuires strong,firm,focussed leadership at the very top,both by the PM amd DM.Sadly,both have been found lacking ,expert ditherers that they are.

[John]

Hate to be saying i told you so i remember the discussion we had here 7 years ago, i stressed importance of building our ship building capabilities incrementally rather than jumping to build something as big IAC, we should focus on building 3 LhDs (split along 3 SYs) and whoever executes' the order most efficiently should be given the contract for the carrier. Rather than reward efficiency and success we seem to be throwing $$ with no repercussion for failure, so it is no surprise the end result there more delays. As i said before i would be surprised if carrier is operational any time before 2018. Before we draw up our plans for super IAC carrier lets try to focus on getting some Mistral based LHDs and use that as stepping stone for something bigger.

[AbhiJ]

We want to Upgrade Our Third Shipyard with Your Money: Russia

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.

[AbhiJ]

Work on P17A and IAC 2 has Started

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

India has started working on its second indigenous aircraft carrier

[Katare]

Work started on design and project difination only! No contract has been signed for actual work yet.

P17A contract should have signed at least 2 years back when the launch of the last P17 freed up space for building next Frigate!

[member_22906]

Already commented in the INS Vikrant thread on this news report. It seems more of media management by Navy post the news of the IAC-1 delay. This news says nothing more than what we know already