Indian navy vikrant, IAC Vikrant will boost India’s deterrent against China and advance peace and security in the Indian Ocean, according to Vice Admiral SN Ghormade, vice head of the Indian Navy.
Navy deputy head Vice Admiral SN Ghormade said on Thursday that crucial flight tests would begin on board the indigenous aircraft carrier indian navy Vikrant in November, with the warship anticipated to be fully operational and integrated with its air wing by the middle of next year.
He continued by saying that the navy is arguing for the construction of a second aircraft carrier that, by drawing on the knowledge and experience gained with the first carrier, could be built more quickly than Vikrant.
On September 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will formally commission Vikrant into the navy in Kochi, the city where it was constructed.
According to the vice chief of naval operations, Vikrant will increase India’s ability to deter China. “It will offer the necessary deterrence against the neighbor’s escalating might. It will support stability and peace in the Indian Ocean region.
The Russian-made MiG-29K fighter planes will be used in the flying tests. They will take off from Vikrant using a ski-jump and land using arrestor wires, or what is known as STOBAR (short takeoff but arrested recovery) in the navy. So yet, Vikrant hasn’t flown a combat plane from its flight deck.
A new deck-based fighter that the navy is trying to purchase as a stopgap solution to cover its needs until the indigenous twin-engine deck-based fighter (TEDBF) is available in a few years is expected to be operated by Vikrant, along with twelve MiG-29Ks, according to Ghormade. INS Vikramaditya, an active navy aircraft carrier, is home to MiG-29K fighters.
“Vikrant is a MiG-29K-specific design. The last aircraft on which we are collaborating with the Aeronautical Development Agency and Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) is the TEDBF. IIt will succeed thanks to us. Additionally, research is being done to choose the best deck-based fighter for the navy. It is merely a temporary solution, he remarked.
The TEDBF might be ready in five to seven years, he suggested.
To address the needs of the navy, India aims to purchase 26 new fighters for Vikrant under a government-to-government agreement. The US company Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet and French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation’s Rafale-M are vying for the procurement.
Specification Of Indian Navy Vikrant
Vikrant, which has an indigenous content of 76%, will operate an air wing consisting of 30 aircraft including the new fighters, MiG-29Ks, Kamov-31 choppers, MH-60R multi-role helicopters and advanced light helicopters.
When questioned about the status of IAC-2, Ghormade stated that the environment for constructing warships was prepared for a second carrier made in India.
We gained a lot of knowledge. It is possible to create IAC-2. It is being discussed with the defence ministry and the government. When the approval comes, we will be able to accelerate development and make it entirely indigenous, he added.
Costing 20,000 crore, the 45,000-tonne Vikrant was constructed at Cochin Shipyard. The only countries with the potential to build aircraft carriers are the US, UK, Russia, France, and China. It bears the name of the navy’s INS Vikrant, an aircraft carrier that served from 1961 to 1997.
Vikrant is 262 metres long, 61 metres tall (keel to mast), and has a flight deck that is 12,500 metres squared—the size of ten Olympic-sized swimming pools. It has a 7,500 nautical mile range, a top speed of 28 knots, 2,300 compartments, and seating for 1,600 crew members.
Construction on Vikrant started in 2009.
India presently only has one aircraft carrier in service, the INS Vikramaditya, which it purchased used from Russia for $2.33 billion. Given its extensive area of interest, the navy has been proposing that it requires three such floating airfields.
“Building Vikrant has been a worthwhile educational endeavour. Only if we follow it up with a second indigenous aircraft carrier will it have any real relevance. When Cochin Shipyard officially turned over Vikrant to the navy on July 28, former navy head Admiral Arun Prakash warned, “If we don’t, the competence and experience that we have earned will fade away, and it will be a big national loss.”
