Three-Carrier Force Will Remain Elusive For Indian Navy

Dec. 20, 2009 - PRLog -- The inaugural issue of the Indian Military Review (IMR), to be released in January 2010, says that a three-carrier force will continue to remain elusive in the foreseeable future for the Indian Navy.  

IMR says that for long, the Indian Navy has striven for a two-carrier force, one each envisaged for operations in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.  That force never really materialised, as the venerable Vikrant was already on its way out when Viraat made its way into Indian waters.  It was believed that the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier – the IAC 1 – would bolster the force. This need morphed into that of a three-carrier force with the objective of having two carriers operationally available at all times.

In 2009, Viraat celebrated the 50th anniversary since her commissioning as HMS Hermes with the Royal Navy. Stretching her useful life has become increasingly non-viable.  Vikramaditya (former Gorshkov) will join the force a mere year or two before Viraat's present life expectancy comes to an end, while the IAC-1 will join the fleet a couple of years after.  Should the British offer for the Queen Elizabeth class—which at present is merely an option being explored—materialise, the earliest that the IN can hope to have a three-carrier force will be 2018.

IMR also says that the configuration of the Viraat, Vikramaditya and the IAC-1 can cause limitations in the operation of the acrrier borne aircarft. Viraat was modified extensively to enable the Sea Harrier to operate off it.  The addition of the ski-jump coupled with the removal of the arrestor gear and the angled flight deck made it virtually unusable by any other combat aircraft.  The STOVL-configured Viraat is being replaced by the STOBAR-configured Vikramaditya. So while the Sea Harriers will be able to operate off the latter, the much heavier conventional/arrestor landing MiG-29K will not be able to operate off the former and is likely have limitations imposed on its performance while operating off the smaller and shorter IAC 1. The STOBAR IAC-1 itself is likely to host the navalised Tejas, but the Vikramaditya arrestor gear will need substantial modifications to arrest the lighter aircraft.

IMR will hit the stand on 10 January 2010.

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