Ins Vikrant India S First Indigenous Aircraft Carrier Places It Among The World S Naval Elite

The carrier has filled the nation with “new confidence,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a ceremony marked by fanfare at the Cochin shipyard in India’s southern state of Kerala. “The goal may be difficult. The challenges may be great. But when India makes up its mind, no goal is impossible,” Modi said, before boarding the plane and unfurling the country’s new naval flag. “Till now, this type of aircraft carrier was built only by developed countries. Today, by entering this league, India has taken another step towards becoming a developed nation,” Modi said, adding that the Indo-Pacific region remains “major security priority” for India. John Bradford, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said India’s commitment to the ship reflected its “long-term vision of maintaining a world-class naval power”. “There are looming questions about the survivability of any carrier in the missile age, but major navies — including those of the US, Japan, China and the UK — are doubling down on carrier investment. In that sense, India keep the match,” Bradford said. Vikrant joins the carrier INS Vikramaditya, a refurbished Soviet-era aircraft carrier purchased from Russia in 2004, in India’s fleet. With a displacement of around 40,000 tonnes, the Vikrant is slightly smaller than the Vikramaditya and the US, Chinese and UK carriers, although it is larger than the Japanese one. However, analysts praised its potential firepower. When its air wing becomes fully operational in the coming years, Vikrant will carry up to 30 aircraft, including MiG-29K fighter jets — which will be launched from the ski ramp-style deck — and helicopters as well as defense systems including surface -air missiles. Powered by four gas turbine engines, its top speed is estimated at 32 mph (52 kph) with a range of 8,600 miles (13,890 km). “India is sending the message that it has the power, it has the aircraft carriers and therefore the air power to dominate the far reaches of the Indian Ocean,” said Ajai Shukla, a former Indian military officer turned defense analyst. Analysts said the new aircraft carrier, and the destroyers and frigates that will eventually form its strike group, gives India options even further afield. “India can influence and coordinate potential security solutions to regional concerns. Having an open ocean naval task force to contribute adds to India’s influence and options. It does not need to engage in a multilateral response, but it can or create a separate independent presence if it chooses to do so,” said Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain who now teaches at Hawaii Pacific University. The new carrier will allow India to take a bigger role in military exercises than the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or “Quad,” an informal alliance of the United States, Japan, Australia and India. For example, US and Japanese carriers have taken part in the annual Malabar exercises involving members of the Quad. Making Vikrant was not easy for India. The government signed off on its design and construction in 2003, and the keel was laid in February 2009. The ship was christened Vikrant — meaning “brave” or “victorious” in Sanskrit — and launched in August 2013. But then there were delays: features had to be redesigned, there was a problem with the security of aviation equipment from Russia, and then there was the Covid-19 pandemic. However, experts say India will be able to strengthen its domestic shipbuilding capacity and learn from the experience. “They now have the expertise to build the next carrier faster and possibly with a better design,” Schuster said. The Indian Navy is considering building a second indigenous aircraft carrier. This remains in the concept phase, but there has been speculation that each new carrier could be in the region of 65,000 tons, about the size of the UK’s HMS Queen Elizabeth or China’s second carrier, the Shandong. China is considered India’s main naval competitor in the region. With two carriers in service and a third, much more advanced carrier launched in the past year, China is ahead of India both numerically and technologically, but analysts give India the edge in carrier operational experience. The Indian Navy began operating aircraft carriers in 1961. Its first aircraft carrier, which it acquired from the United Kingdom, was also named Vikrant. The first Vikrant was retired in 1997. A second British-built aircraft carrier, INS Viraat, served in the Indian Navy for 30 years before being decommissioned in 2017. China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, was an unfinished Soviet-era vessel that Beijing bought from Ukraine in 1998, updated and finally commissioned in 2012. Its first home-grown aircraft carrier, the Shandong, entered service in 2019 and in June 2022 a third carrier, Fujian, was launched — an advanced carrier with electromagnetic catapult launch systems similar to those used by the US. “On paper, China’s new carriers have more capability in terms of payload and technology than Vikrant. However, India has decades of experience in air force management, while China is still learning,” said Bradford, the analyst of Singapore. Even with this experience, it could take a year or much longer for Vikrant to fully get up to speed as a fighting force. This is typical for aircraft carriers. America’s newest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, was commissioned in 2017 and is expected to make its first deployment later this year.

title: “Ins Vikrant India S First Indigenous Aircraft Carrier Places It Among The World S Naval Elite Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-18” author: “Shannon Miller”

title: “Ins Vikrant India S First Indigenous Aircraft Carrier Places It Among The World S Naval Elite Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-30” author: “Kenneth Spivey”

title: “Ins Vikrant India S First Indigenous Aircraft Carrier Places It Among The World S Naval Elite Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-15” author: “Carole Oneil”