INS Vikramaditya dedicated to the nation

Reeling under a spate of unfortunate accidents, the Indian Navy had a positive development today as Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov (rechristened as INS Vikramaditya ) to the nation.

Here is the Press Release issued by the Ministry of Defence.

Prime Minister Spends A Day Onboard INS Vikramaditya

New Delhi: 24 Jyaistha 1936

Saturday, 14 June 2014

        

"In his first visit to an operational military formation after assuming office, the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi dedicated the country’s new aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya to the Nation. The Prime Minister embarked the aircraft carrier at sea off Goa, which was operating in the company of ten other frontline warships of the Indian Navy’s ‘Sword Arm’ – the Western Fleet.  The Prime Minister was accompanied by the Chief Minister of Goa Shri Manohar Parrikar, the Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh, the National Security Advisor Shri Ajit Doval, the Chief of Naval Staff Admiral RK Dhowan and the Defence Secretary Shri RK Mathus. He was received onboard INS Vikramaditya by the Commander-in-Chief, Western Naval Command  Vice Admiral Anil Chopra, and Fleet Commander, Western Fleet Rear Admiral AK Chawla,.

On arrival at the Naval Air Station INS Hansa earlier in the morning, the Prime Minister was received by Admiral RK Dhowan and accorded a ceremonial Guard of Honour. Thereafter, Shri Modi embarked the aircraft carrier at sea by helicopter.

During the day, the Prime Minister witnessed ‘Air Power Demonstration’ by various naval aircraft including MiG 29K, Sea Harriers, P 8 I Long Range Maritime Patrol Anti-Submarine Warfare aircraft, TU 142M, IL 38 SD, Dorniers, Kamov and Sea King helicopters. He also witnessed high speed manoeuvres by Western Fleet ships including the other aircraft carrier INS Viraat, Delhi class destroyers Mysore and Mumbai, stealth frigates Tarkash, Talwar and Teg, guided missile frigates Betwa and Godavari and fleet tanker Deepak amongst others.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Cockpit of MiG-29K

Shri Modi also interacted with officers and sailors onboard and congratulated them on their hard work and dedication in fully operationalising the INS Vikramaditya in such a short period.  In his address to the personnel of the fleet, the Prime Minister stated that INS Vikramaditya will significantly enhance the ‘Blue Water’ capability of the Indian Navy.

The Western Fleet, also known as the Sword Arm of the Indian Navy consists of many frontline warships including the Aircraft Carriers, INS Vikramaditya and INS Viraat.  Commissioned on 16 Nov 2013 at Severodovinsk, Russia, the 44,500 tons displacement INS Vikramaditya marks the coming of age for the navy and its commitment to safeguard the maritime interests of the country.

A MiG-29 K approaching for landing on INS Vikramaditya

With an overall length of 284 meters and a width of 60 meters measuring over three football fields, this floating airfield is equipped to carry a maximum of 34 aircraft such as MIG 29 K fighters and Kamov 31 helicopters.  The ship is now fully operational with Indian pilots taking off and landing the MIG 29K naval combat aircraft.  Manned by a highly professional and competent crew of 110 officers and 1500 sailors, the ship can propel at speeds over 30 knots on the strength of her eight boilers producing a combined thrust of 1,80,000 Shaft Horse power.

MiG-29K landing on the aircraft carrier

Prime Minister Modi taking salute

For the first time, the Naval communication satellite, Rukmini, was used to telecast live the events on board INS Vikramaditya. It was significant that the live telecast took place from a moving platform." 

(Also read Realisation of a dream... A two aircraft carrier Navy )

Photo Credit: Ministry of Defence

Aiming without Arming

The Indian defence establishment has been talking about a grown assertiveness in its dealing with its giant neighbor in the East – China. Two separate developments earlier this month marked a sense of maturity in the defence outlook of India – the Special Representatives talks on the boundary issue with China and the largest edition of Milan naval exercise with 16 countries from the Indian Ocean Region and South China Sea.

On the face of it the two events look unrelated, but Indian Mandarins in the South Block seem to have taken a leaf out from the Chinese strategy of seeking a peaceful resolution of disputes while continuing to assert its might. India conducted war games with 16 countries including Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand – which are having disputes with China in the South China Sea region - in the Bay of Bengal from Feb 4-9. And then Indian National Security Advisor (NSA) met China’s State Councillor Yang Jiechi to decide to start dialogue on maritime security, an important aspect of Indo-China relations considering their rivalry vis-à-vis energy security.

File Photo of Exercise Milan

The only difference between the strategic maneuvering of the two countries is that China can actually back them up with firepower. India seems to be aiming virtually with no gun. The gap between the requirements of the Indian Armed Forces and the grant from the government is ever widening – as reflected in the recent budget. On the face of it, the defence budget has got a 10 percent hike. But probe a bit deeper, and it reflects an Indian defence establishment, known to have inertia to change; acquisition process takes decades, any force augmentations come after years, domination of reactive rather proactive approach towards bulwarking its defence and so forth and so on.

The announced Defence Budget for the year 2014-15 is 2.24 trillion rupees. The major reason for the enhanced budget is the increased pay and salaries of the three forces and the hiked revenue expenditure of the Indian Army, which is raising a Mountain Strike Corps along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) along China. However, the other requirements like getting new artillery guns have been hanging fire. And also the IAF had to bear a cut in relation to the current year.

Indian Defence Minister AK Antony dropped the bombshell at the flagship biennial Indian defence exhibition DefExpo-2014, that there was no money for the purchase of the 126 Medium Multi-Role Aircraft (MMRCA) for the Indian Air Force (IAF) – an acquisition that has the force has been awaiting for nearly a decade now and the delay has been keeping it from bidding adieu to all variants of the MiG-21s.

India has been trying to hide behind the comforts of its ‘superior’ navy with a greater experience of projecting force beyond its border. The Indian Navy officials have been boasting about the successful operation of a flat-deck carrier for decades. A claim which has been bolstered by the recent addition of Admiral Gorshkov, rechristened as INS Vikramaditya, in its fleet. The Chinese Navy that recently acquired Soviet-vintage aircraft carrier Varyag is already working towards acquiring second such warship. India presently has two aircraft carriers – one of which will be retiring soon and will be replaced by an indigenous one. And the Indian defence establishment instead of taking honing this indigenous capability further and sanctioning the construction of the second aircraft carrier is bidding time.

Another crunch staring the Indian Navy in face is the rapidly dwindling numbers of its submarines. The force has been left with only 14 conventional submarines in its flotilla and it is only after considerable delay that the government has decided to give its nod to the construction of six submarines under Project-75 I.

Another major project in limbo has been the construction of six strategic rail links along the LAC. The Indian Army had initially proposed construction of 14 strategic lines in Ladakh and North Eastern Regions. Out of this six lines were accorded top priority by the MoD. These lines will entail an estimated cost of Rs. 80,000 crore.

The rail lines are as such important to link the two regions with the country, however, the inaction on the part of the Indian government becomes more glaring as China has already laid down 10,000 km long rail network in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). This has given China the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) the capability to mobilize 4,50,000 soldiers to the border in 30 days.  Some of the important railway projects in North East are Missamari (Assam) to Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh), North Lakhimpur (Assam) to Along (Arunachal Pradesh) and Murkongselek (Assam)-Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh). Tawang is strategically important to India and is one region in the North east claimed by the Chinese. Inclement weather in the region makes it difficult to maintain supply routes. 

While the Defence Minister has received a pat on his back for managing to spend every penny of the defence budget during his tenure, the last year 2013-14 has been very lackluster on his resume.

India’s Gorshkov dream delayed by a year

New Delhi, October 10: The delivery date of floating deck cruiser Admiral Gorshkov slipped by a year, Russia made it official on Wednesday, even as India remained non-committal on imposing a financial penalty on the Russian shipyard as it failed to honour the contract that had finalized December 4, 2012 as the delivery date.

 

 

Even as the biggest irritant in the Indo-Russian defence trade – often termed as the “White Elephant” indicating the steep cost escalation of the warships - was far from being removed, both countries firmed up contracts for another 42 Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jets and 59 helicopters.

According to sources, India conveyed its “serious concerns” about the delay of Gorhskov to be rechristened as INS Vikramaditya to visiting Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov during the 12th India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation Russia. However, Moscow washed its hands off the delay caused in the project saying it cannot be held responsible for the trial malfunction.

Addressing a joint press conference, Russian Defence Minister Serdyukov said: “The ship encountered big malfunction with the main power plant and the boiler. Right now the ship is relocated to the factory.” The Russian technicians are examining the cause of the malfunction and the 44,570 tonnes Kiev class aircraft carrier at Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk will only begin its trial in April 2013.

The Gorshkov programme had suffered a setback when after 90 days of sailing in the Barent Sea; seven of the eight boilers of the warship did not function at its maximum power limit. Sources indicate that the Russian shipyard might escalate the cost for the refurbishment of the warship as the Russians are claiming that it was the Indian Navy that insisted on bricks insulation for the boilers rather than the traditional asbestos coating and would therefore claim more in the name of dry dock maintenance.

“We have handed over the revised time overhaul and transfer schedule to the Indian side and we believe that transfer of the ship will take place in the 4th quarter of the 2013,” Serdykov added.

While Indian Defence Minister AK Antony insisted that the early delivery of the aircraft carrier was the primary concern of New Delhi, on the issue of imposing penalty on Sevmash shipyard for another delay in the project that has been marred by delays and price escalation saying: “This is not the time to discuss it.” The contract provides for levying a penalty ranging from .5 to 5 percent of the cost of the warship depending on the delay in the delivery.

The acquisition of Admiral Gorshkov has been full of the price escalation saga. Offered as a gift to the Indian Navy in the beginning, the Russians had used the warship to arm-twist the Indian government to cough up more money that was used to bail out the cash-strapped Sevmash shipyard. The soviet-vintage aircraft carrier was built under 1143.4 class aircraft carrier project and these carriers have a history of boiler failures during their service lives. The warship was launched into the sea in 1982 and commissioned into the Soviet navy in 1987. Gorshkov had to be docked in 1994 after a boiler room explosion in 1994. It returned to services in 1995 for a brief time and was finally put up for sale in 1996.

India and Russia signed the contract in 2004 for a package deal of $1.5 billion that included $974 million for its refit and the rest for the 16 MiG-29 K fighter jets. The initial delivery date was in 2008.

However project hit the headlines in 2007 when Russia said that it will not be able to meet its initial deadline of 2008 and pushed it back to 2010 and demanded upped the price to $2.9 billion. After years of strenuous price re-negotiations the deal was re-inked at $2.33 billion in 2010 and December 2012 was fixed as the delivery time.

China's about to find out how hard it is to run an aircraft carrier

Here is a brilliant account of the journey of the China's maiden aircraft carrier Liaoning so far and the challenges it will face in future as the Chinese Navy earns the skills to operate a floating deck carrier.

Calm before the storm

Chinese Navy gets its first aircraft carrier, a cause of concern for the Indian Navy?

The Chinese Navy has inducted its aircraft carrier earlier this week (September 25). The Indian Navy, which claims an edge over its Chinese counterpart owing to its long maritime legs and long history of seamanship, is closely watching the development.

A Chinese Warship during a joint exercise with the Indian Navy this year

The PLA Navy has been planning to enter the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) sometime in 2015 only. However, the increased piracy in the Gulf of Aden provided it with an opportunity to deploy its warships for longer durations in the international water and learn the international best practices by closely coordinating with the foreign navies. Buoyed by this the Chinese Navy inducted its first aircraft carrier named Liaoning in its fleet. The announcement was finally made by the Defence Ministry of China through website of PLA.

The Soviet-vintage aircraft carrier has been named after a northeast province of China. PLA navy has indicated that the ship is likely to be used for training purposes only. 

"The entry into the ranks of this aircraft carrier will raise the level of modernization of China's overall naval operational forces," defence ministry said. The Liaoning will help "effectively protect national sovereignty, security and development interests" it was officially announced. 

The Indian Navy is monitoring the situation, but maintains there is nothing alarming in it. As put by the skipper of the Indian Navy's lone aircraft carrier INS Viraat: "See you cannot reach a great power status in 10-15 days. Navies are made over centuries. You have to keep building them for over years and they are a costly proposition. So any navy aspiring to operate carriers will be envious of countries operating them. Naval aviation is a great skill and it takes 25 years to hone it. Once you build this capability you cannot do away with it."

However, what worries the Indian Navy is the unforeseen delay in the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier indigenous aircraft carrier programme followed by trial problem in the Russian-built Admiral Gorshkov. In both the cases the delivery dates have been pushed back, which by conservative estimates mean that India will get its new aircraft carrier only by early 2014. 

The voyage of Varyag - the written off Soviet Navy aircraft carrier from the 1980s - to the Chinese Navy's Liaoning is one that of a determination of the eastern neighbour to find its maritime legs at the earliest. The construction of Varyag had started in 1980s and its construction stopped in 1992 after the disintegration of the USSR. It remained in the Ukrainian shipyard unfinished until 1998 when a Macau-based Chinese company bought it for US$20 million. In March 2002, the vessel was towed to the Dalian Shipyard in northern China after an arduous sea voyage spanning months. Since then the warship has been stationed there for refurbishment.