I had reported only last month that Indian Navy was planning to launch indigenous construction of its largest-ever (65,000-tonne ) aircraft
carrier code names IAC-II. The news has come true. This week, as India's Prime Minister was leaving on a state visit to China, India's Defence acquisitions council (DAC) cleared acquisition of huge tranche of military manufacturing projects that included ultra-light howitzers, medium-transport aircraft, light
utility helicopters and a few other things. The total value of projects cleared was a staggering amount of Rs. 250 Billions. An insignificant portion of this amount was allotted for a project, as "Seed money" or money for the commencement
of preparatory work for construction of IAC-II, which should eventually lead to construction of India's
largest-ever warship, the 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier INS Vishal.
What is more significant is that INS Vishal is
likely to have nuclear propulsion for greater endurance as well as catapult assisted take-off but arrested recovery (CATOBAR)
configuration for launching fighters as well as heavier aircraft from
its deck.
One of India's aircraft carriers, “ Viraat,”
would be decommissioned sometime in the middle of 2015. It was not
a new ship, when it was commissioned into Indian Navy in 1987. The
ship was built and actually commissioned in 1959 for the British Navy
as HMS Hermes. The construction work had continued for fifteen years.
She had then served as the flagship of the Royal Navy's task force
during the Falkland Islands campaign in 1982.
With
“Viraat's” exit, Navy will be left with just one aircraft
carrier, INS Vikramaditya, which has became operational after a long
wait, only on 7th May 2014. Indian navy would prefer to have at least
two carriers, but may have to be satisfied with just one for time
being or at least till 2019.
On
12th August 2013, India launched its first ever, locally built
aircraft carrier named INS Vikrant (2). This 37000 tonne ship with a
length of 260m (850ft) and a breadth of 60m, has been built at the
shipyard in Cochin in South India. This launch marks the end of the
first phase of its construction and outfitting and further
construction would continue. INS Vikrant is expected to go for
extensive trials in 2016 before being inducted into the navy by 2018.
The ship has been designed and manufactured locally and uses high
grade steel made by SAIL, Steel Authority of India, a state-owned
steel company. Navy has announced in December 2014, that this ship
would be commissioned by 2019. This would mean that the Navy would
have to do with only one carrier till then.
Meanwhile,
as I have reported in another post, People's
daily of China in an article on 5th February 2015 has come up
with a report on future of aircraft carriers in China and says;
“ Military
expert Cao Weidong said that China pursues a defensive national
defense policy and four aircraft carriers are appropriate. Aircraft
carriers are typically required for training, maintenance and duty.
If China has four aircraft carriers, with two in the South China Sea
and two in northern China, they can better accomplish their missions.
The
displacement of an aircraft carrier will greatly affect its combat
capability. A 60,000 ton ship can carry from 30 to 40 fighters, while
a 100,000 ton vessel can carry between 70 and 80 fighters. Carriers
of 60,000 to 80,000 tons are appropriate for China's needs at
present. China has no need to build 100,000 tonnes or larger
carriers, like the United States.”
60,000
or 80,000 tonne ships are quite large ones. In comparison, India’s
aircraft carrier, Vikramaditya has a displacement of around 40,000
tonnes. Building these ships is likely to be a tall order for Chinese
shipyards. What is of more relevance now, are the news leaks pointing
to China's plans for second aircraft carrier.
A report in South China Morning post has quoted number of such
news leaks. The report says;
“ A
city government microblog and an official newspaper in Changzhou,
Jiangsu province, separately mentioned on Saturday that a power cable
manufacturer in the city had "won a tender for the second
aircraft carrier". The sources cited a city government economic
and information technology conference held on Friday.
In
January last year, Liaoning party chief Wang Min reportedly told a
provincial people's congress panel that the second carrier was being
built in Dalian, home to the country's first carrier.
Under
the headline, "Planes, High-speed Railway, Aircraft Carrier -
all bear 'Made in Changzhou'", the Changzhou Evening News
reported that the city government meeting highlighted the ambitious
plans for the year of several top manufacturers, ranging from car
makers, to producers of planes and naval vessels. It said Jiangsu
Shangshang Cable Group had "won a tender for the second aircraft
carrier" ”
As
seen from India's experience in building aircraft carriers, it is
really a tough project. China already is aware about this, because it
has taken them 12 years to convert an incomplete hulk of a ship to an
aircraft carrier, which is still not functional to its full
capability. To build 3 aircraft carriers with 60000 to 80000 tonne
capacity would be very challenging, to say the least and would take
China a few decades for sure.China
already has one aircraft carrier “Liaoning” and as per above
report it is planning to build three more.
One
shortcoming of all three carriers that India has or has planned, is
that they all have angled ski-jumps for fighters to take off under
their own power called as STOBAR (short take-off but arrested
recovery) operations in Navy terms. This limits the carrier
operations to only smaller fighters like MiG-29Ks. IAC- II is likely
to have CATOBAR (catapult assisted take-off but arrested recovery)
system for launching fighters as well as heavier aircraft from its
deck. India is believed to have asked US to share this technology
developed by General Atomics, under the bilateral Defence Trade and
Technology Initiative, which these two countries have signed. With
CATOBAR, IAC-II will also be able handle more as well as heavier
aircraft for surveillance, early-warning, electronic warfare and
other operations.
Carrier-battle-groups
(CBG) are considered today the most versatile platforms of military
power available. One such CBG can contrl around 200,000 square
nautical miles of ocean area, and is capable of moving over 600
nautical miles a day. With China planning in all 4 CBG's, India is
not left with any other choice but to start work on construction of
this carrier as soon as possible.
16th May 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment