Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC)

When the keel of the Indigenous Aircraft Project (Project 71) will be laid at 28th February Indian Navy will be on its way provide the two fleets with a aircraft carrier group

The aircraft carrier will have a air component consisting of MiG-29K, ASW helicopters, AEW Helicopter, and possibly Tejas-Naval.

MiG-29K will be tasked with the task of providing air defence, anti ship role and light attack role


ASW Helicopters will be necessary in the IOR where a submarine buildup is underway and only likely to increase by 2022, a future ASW helicopter should be looked at as the aircraft carriers come into service (similar to merlin ASW class helicopter).


AEW helicopters will be hard pressed to provide a significant capability to counter the fast flying threats, they will be able to give early warning of low flying anti ship missiles which is an important capability due to the proliferation of anti ship missiles in our region , they will also add to the overall awareness about whats floating around the carrier group.



HAL Tejas(Naval) is a mystery to me, with MiG-29K providing a better capability in performing the same roles why should the Navy be interested in them, the answer could possibly be found in the decline of the Sea Harriers in the Indian Navy. The Navy had to struggle with declining numbers, non availability of spare parts, and sanctions due to the Nuclear tests. Tejas-N will be produced in India, making it sanction proof (at least most of it), and upgrades would not require lengthy negotiations.

Post 2022 Indian Navy will be looking to induct an advanced fighter, possibly a FGFA derivative and it will take time to produce a more capable Mark-II version of the Tejas LCA, hence the Tejas LCA will not be able to serve in numbers with the Indian Navy. The Indian Navy would not have selected the MiG-29K had Tejas-N been available for induction.

The IAC has been designed with Indian Navy involved in each step of the process, hence the design of the ship will be perfectly to its requirements.

These will be the flag ships of the two fleets which control a huge area, which is one of worlds most important commercial sea traffic route(The suez to the malacca) , and any regional navy will be hard pressed to provide similar capability.

Below is a map i found on google images describing what the region looks like, it is weird that this image is on tamilnation.org.

Vision 2022:Surface Ships

The Indian Navy is going through tremendous change, the Vision for it around 2022 is quite interesting.

Here is what i have read about the major surface vessels which will be serving with the Indian Navy around 2022.

Aircraft Carriers:

INS Vikramadiya (ex-Admiral Gorskhov):

This ship was meant to fill a important role in the Indian Navy: See off the current INS Viraat (ex-Hermes, RN) into retirement, To provide a aviation element till IAC were commissioned, To provide a platform for the Navy to train its men while the three Aircraft carriers came into service.

This was based on the ability of the ship to cost low and refit with out taking too long, the ships was to retire around 2022-2025 as the third IAC came into service now it seems it is very expensive and delayed beyond 2012-2015.

This will put strain on the navy as they have to induct 3 aircraft carriers(first in 2012-2015, second in 2017-2020, and the third in 2022-2025) and needs trained men (for the ship & the planes), training resources on light to medium carrier as they are commissioned will be limited.

However at current costs the ship is better off in Russia then India for the IN and the government.

3 Indigenous Aircraft Carriers:

These is a new design one that involved the Indian Navy at every step, with international design and consultancy firms which have experience of similar projects this will translate in a very effective design for its class (short take-off but arrested recovery, conventional power/gas turbines, 37,500-40,000 tons).

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Guided Missile Destroyers:

3 Kolkata class destroyers from Project 15A:

Multi role ships with modern active phased array radars (hardware), good computing power(hardware) and a total combat management system (software).

With decent anti-air and anti-missile capability in the form of Barak (possibly 16), Barak-NG (32 missiles in 4 cells with 8 VLS each) and 4 AK-630 CIWS
A-190 gun and 16 BrahMos missile system on 2 VLS occupying a large space.

The delay in the construction of these ships has been due to changes in design and to accommodate new sensors and weapons, as is evident from the following pictures i found on google search, both from an excellent blog: http://trishulgroup.blogspot.com/2008/09/project-15a-ddg-detailed.html

Old Kolkata Class Design

New Kolkata Class Design

These ships might not represent capabilities of a potent anti air warfare destroyer, however when we take into consideration for a moment that the Indian navy faces no great aviation threat in the region things become clear. This will not be the case in the coming decade.

4 Destroyers from Project 15B:

An evolution of the Project 15B destroyers, in my view the design of these ships will show a tilt towards anti air warfare hence the number of BrahMos Missiles might go down to four or they might all together disappear, most hardware/sensors will be common to the 15A with improved software.

3 Delhi Class destroyers:

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Guided Missile Frigates

7 Frigates from Project 17A:

These ships will be designed with a focus on low observability (LO), in terms of radar cross section reduction, Infra red emission reduction and noise reduction, although this has been done on previous designs, this project will take it to the next step, i expect the sensor suite to be around the joint venture (Barak NG) with Israel and the major hardware previously purchased for other ships (MF-STAR EL/M-2248).

These ships will cost a lot as the application of different LO technologies will not be a low cost affair.

The design will depend upon which international shipyard is selected by the Indian Navy, and the technology transfer for the construction of most ships from this class will cost a lot.

3 Shivalik Class Frigates from Project 17.

Everything about these ships is clear now, hopefully the commissioning will start soon, LO evolution from the Talvar class and sharing many systems/equipment/weapons.

The design and the weapons fit of these ships are very strange, they look like a mixture of two separate generations, the only reason could be the delays the project faced.

3 Modified Talvar Class Frigates:

These will have Brahmos instead of the club missile system in the Talvar class frigates in service.

3 Talvar Class Frigates.

3 Brahmaputra Class Frigates.

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Corvettes:

12 Project 28 ASW Corvettes:

Very compact and nice design, they will keep on evolving from the first ship to the last ship, the focus on noise reduction and LO is evident,
I think the navy will include a basic anti air/missile capability by adding Barak missile system.
The current design does not show any room for some klub anti ship/anti submarine missile system.

4 Kora Class Corvettes from Project 25A.

Veer class corvettes on the last leg of their service.

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Amphibious Assault Ships:

3-4 Large amphibious assault ships:
This has been in the news for some time now, the transfer of ex-USS Trenton into Indian Navy as the INS Jalashawa, request for the transfer of ex-USS Nashville suggests that the Navy will be looking at this capability in a very serious manner. The Joint Doctrine on Amphibious Warfare will form and validate an amphibious assault doctrine.

Some reports stated that Mistral Class amphibious assault ships/command & control ships are being considered, they would be ideal in lead role of a separate amph. strike group.

Recent interview of Vice Admiral Dilip Deshpande suggested 3-4 LPDs, which would come into service with the Navy ready for them through investment into the decomm. USN ships.

Landing Ships (Shardul Class):
Currently 3 of these ships are commissioned/ing into the Navy.

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Those were the major surface ships, other ships will include:
Large off-shore patrol vessels and small fast patrol vessels these will receive a lot of resources because of the tragedy in Mumbai.
Tankers/supply ships for the fleets.
Anti Mine warfare ships.
Rescue vessels, tugs, research vessels, hospital ships, torp recovery ships, training ships.

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This projected naval buildup is impressive, and its based on the current and predicted rise in economic wealth (the size of the economy).

This force in itself does not possess a impressive offensive capability to project power on land this force however provides IN with impressive advantage in the region(in terms of surface ships), IN will be able to meet any conventional sea based chalange or threat if the situation presents itself.

Three ACs provide the navy with two aircraft carrier groups, which will have around 16-20 fighters (MiG-29K/KUB) and 10 helicopters with each of the aircraft carrier groups. MiG-29K provides air defence, light land attack capability, and anti ship role for around 600-800 km radius, these are the roles it was supposed to fulfil. It is certainly way more impressive than the old harriers on INS Viraat.

The fleets will have LACM version of the BrahMos which is effective up to 300km, not a particularly impressive range for sea based LACM considering that 300 kms away from land will expose it to shore based air power and anti ship missile battries.

For a aircraft carrier battle group the capability of a 300km range anti ship cruise missile does not seem very useful (BrahMos AShM version), if the surface ships of the opposing force are able to approach with-in 300km of the group then some one is not doing his/her job and if no ship is able to come that close to the group then what is the need of the BrahMos anti ship missile on so many ships in the group?

The amphibious attack capability is more impressive with the planned LPD's and LS's, considering the rest of the Naval capability, this provides a impressive power projection capability, capability to land an offensive force of men and equipment on the shore complete with the support of airplanes and helicopters from the aircraft carriers and the LPDs.

The Third Fleet

The vision 2022 concentrates on building up our naval capability in the IOR, the current plans should be adequate for the task.

If everything goes right this will provide us with the chance to create a third fleet, to safeguard our interests far away from regional waters.

A recent post by a defence journalist in his blog (livefist) stated

The keel of India's first indigenous aircraft carrier, to be the second warship christened INS Vikrant, will be laid on February 28 at Kochi. But it is now clear that while Cochin Shipyards will build three aircraft carriers in the current 37,500-ton category (the second and third are to be christened INS Viraat and INS Vishaal apparently), design work has already begun in earnest to develop and build two more aircraft carriers with not only much larger displacements, but possibly nuclear propulsion as well.

A third fleet could be structured to include a aircraft carrier group and a amphibious assault group, with other elements joining in if required.

The aircraft carrier and the amphibious ship are the main power projection tools, with the rest of the constituent elements built around them.

For the development of this capability we will need assistance from nations that have similar capabilities (USA, Europe, Russia), in order to keep the costs and delays to the minimum possible levels, this help will not be too difficult to come, as is evident with the current IAC project and with many other projects that are under-way.

We have to use this power to shape the events when we can and where we can to our advantage.
If our friends face a threat/challenge in the region we have to possess the capability to intervene decisively, which will give us the ability to solve matters diplomatically when needed.

As we develop into a economically prosperous energy and resource hungry nation, we will need to form partnerships with distant nations, military capability will be a important part of these partnerships. In a world that is violent and unstable, diplomacy alone will only get us limited results.

If the economic growth falters we will be restricted to our region and unable to influence the events happening away from our borders, instead these events will shape our policy, and the economy will shrink without resources and markets.

Sea has always been important and will be so in the coming years, all the recent activity is a clear indication of this.

This world is a huge place and we are a small part of it, we have paid the price of limiting ourselves to the subcontinent before, a naval force which is in proportion with our interests has to become a permanent part of our nation.