[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by julupani

The normal route would be via the North Sea, English Channel, Gibraltar Strait, Mediterranean sea, Suez Canal, Red Sea past the Horn of Africa into the Arabian Sea.

Thanks for the info. I was wondering if the ship was coming from east side since it was mentioned it will be reaching at Kochin first, guess it may be due to some pending sea based trials or training. Read it will be eventually based in Karwar.

[Shome]

I was surprised to read today that the INS Vikramaditya does not have any air defense systems on board currently. The "controversial" Barak 1 will be fitted once the carrier reaches India. What that also means is that the IN has the confidence in our dockyards to fit them once the ship docks in India. Our dockyards do have experience in this with the work they have done on the Delhi class destroyers.

Apparently, the Russian Mig 29s, Su 33s and a few other aircrafts could not detect the INS Vik during the test phase with the Vik detecting them even when they were about 350-400 kms out

An escort flotilla is also accompanying the Vik on her journey. Apparently, this has a supply ship, a Talwar class frigate and an underwater asset as well. Hope it's the INS Chakra

[julupani]

Originally Posted by Shome

I was surprised to read today that the INS Vikramaditya does not have any air defense systems on board currently. The "controversial" Barak 1 will be fitted once the carrier reaches India. What that also means is that the IN has the confidence in our dockyards to fit them once the ship docks in India. Our dockyards do have experience in this with the work they have done on the Delhi class destroyers.

Apparently, the Russian Mig 29s, Su 33s and a few other aircrafts could not detect the INS Vik during the test phase with the Vik detecting them even when they were about 350-400 kms out

An escort flotilla is also accompanying the Vik on her journey. Apparently, this has a supply ship, a Talwar class frigate and an underwater asset as well. Hope it's the INS Chakra

I think it is expected that the Israeli Barak missiles be fit here in India. After all the Israelis wouldnt want the Russians to get to know anything about their missile systems.

Also aircraft carriers almost never travel solo, but in what is called a carrier group having multiple warships.

[BoneCollector]

Finally, the sea trials of IAC Vikrant has started as per this video and news.

https://youtu.be/nHzrJcMYGBw

Link

The much-awaited sea trials of India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC), which will be reincarnated as INS Vikrant once it is commissioned in August next year, finally kicked off on Wednesday.
Describing the launch of the maiden sea trials of the 40,000-tonne IAC as a “proud and historic day”, the Navy said India has now joined a select group of countries to have the “niche capability” to indigenously design, build and integrate a state-of-the-art aircraft carrier.

[vharihar]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

Finally ...

The earliest post in this TBHP thread is dated Aug 2013, quoting:

India launched its first domestically built aircraft carrier at the shipyard in Kochi, Kerala. The Indian Navy's new Aircraft Carrier INS Vikrant was launched at Kochi Shipyard on last Monday. The launch marks the end of the first phase of construction. However, INS Vikrant stills needs to be outfitted and extensive trials will be held in 2016 before the carrier is inducted into the Indian navy in 2018

Are the recent posts related to the same? It takes 8 years to make and launch an aircraft carrier? Am especially even more puzzled because the Aug 2013 post has pics that look almost fully built.

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by vharihar

It takes 8 years to make and launch an aircraft carrier? Am especially even more puzzled because the Aug 2013 post has pics that look almost fully built.

Allow me to say something before the heavyweights weigh in on this - but there be many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip when a nation builds its first aircraft carrier. Moreover, the systems that get integrated on top of the hull that is initially readied (which is what happened 8 years ago) are very complex. Besides, think of it as being similar to the LCA Tejas' journey, or think of it as committing a murder or what it takes for an employee to make his/her first lateral jump to another employer - the first time's always the hardest. It gets easier from then onwards.

The complexities involved in constructing a carrier will only increase with India's next iterations, but at least we won't commit any of the errors and omissions that we can only have committed as a newbie in this niche area of shipbuilding.

[fhdowntheline]

A military asset like this is a highly complex weapons delivery platform, and undergoes several phases of system integration and testing before being fully capable. Although being at this stage of sea trials, if there were to be a sudden conflict which absolutely required the use of this ship, it would probably be available for limited use.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

Finally, the sea trials of IAC Vikrant has started as per this video and news. clap

a proud moment for the Indian Navy and a very important step forward in the building & commissioning of the ship. As a child I visited the old INS Vikrant in 1971 and could never have thought that a new one designed and built in India would sail within my lifetime.

Originally Posted by vharihar

The launch marks the end of the first phase of construction. However, INS Vikrant stills needs to be outfitted and extensive trials will be held in 2016 before the carrier is inducted into the Indian navy in 2018.

Are the recent posts related to the same? It takes 8 years to make and launch an aircraft carrier? Am especially even more puzzled because the Aug 2013 post has pics that look almost fully built.

The physical construction of the hull and placement {but not integration of the heavy machinery {propulsion & electrical} is in terms of both cost and complexity 1/3rd of the ship. The military equipment of all kinds that go into the hull and their complex integration is 2/3rds of the building. Ideally it should not have taken so long. Better planning and co-ordination would have helped. But for a first time ever this is still not bad at all. Also as we went along we must have discovered and corrected mistakes which eat up time. I suspect we have another 18 months to go for sea trials plus corrections.

[DrPriyankT]

Seeing the INS Vikrant sailing under its own power and bellowing white smoke from its chimney (I will not apologize to the greens for this!) :-P, makes me feel proud of how the Indian Naval platforms built at home have gone from strength to strength. I would be happier to see our domestically built SSBN, the INS Arihant in the flesh like we see our surface ships, but I guess it will just be a dream.
I just hope this carrier isn't a one off project, wherein the skills acquired are lost, after building just one carrier. I sincerely hope we atleast order one more carrier of this class, to keep the shipyard occupied and more importantly skills honed, till we have they money to go in for a bigger CATOBAR carrier. Skills acquired in building this carrier can also be incorporated into designing a desi LPD for our navy.

[torquecurve]

Originally Posted by vharihar

The earliest post in this TBHP thread is dated Aug 2013, quoting:

Are the recent posts related to the same? It takes 8 years to make and launch an aircraft carrier? Am especially even more puzzled because the Aug 2013 post has pics that look almost fully built.

Originally Posted by locusjag

Allow me to say something before the heavyweights weigh in on this - but there be many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip when a nation builds its first aircraft carrier. Moreover, the systems that get integrated on top of the hull that is initially readied (which is what happened 8 years ago) are very complex. Besides, think of it as being similar to the LCA Tejas' journey, or think of it as committing a murder or what it takes for an employee to make his/her first lateral jump to another employer - the first time's always the hardest. It gets easier from then onwards.

The complexities involved in constructing a carrier will only increase with India's next iterations, but at least we won't commit any of the errors and omissions that we can only have committed as a newbie in this niche area of shipbuilding.

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

A military asset like this is a highly complex weapons delivery platform, and undergoes several phases of system integration and testing before being fully capable. Although being at this stage of sea trials, if there were to be a sudden conflict which absolutely required the use of this ship, it would probably be available for limited use.

Not a heavyweight, but a student of this so a few points -
What you saw in 2013 was the 'hull' basicaly a large boat with some sponsons and a watertight waterline which meant, it could float.

First up - did we take unusually long to build this? No - Did we take longer than others - Yes. For comparison the Chinese built their first full homegrown carrier (the Type002 - Shandong) from first hull cutting in 2013 to launch in 2017 and it is already at sea. The difference though lies in the fact that the Shandong is a 'copy' of the Type001 - which itself is just an ex-Russian Aircraft carrier (Varyag) that was bought as a 'casino ship' and then converted to a carrier.
The Shandong for example uses 'oil' fired boilers (as the Varyag did).
In the case of IAC-1 (to be christened INS Vikrant) - we did the full design ground up. From Deck edge lifts to powerful 'turbine' based engines this is actually a state of the art platform.

If we compare to the Queen Elizabeth class (British) - it uses a similar design philosophy, propulsion etc and slots between this and the venerable Cavour (Italy). While the QE uses a split superstructure (redundancy), we use a more traditional single superstructure - but if you observe closely there are two smoke stacks - angled away from the deck (which means smoke wont hamper flight ops) and those stacks probably indicate a certain level of redundancy (considering the gap between them).

During construction - there were several challenges including design challenges that were overcome. There was also a delay in the delivery of the LM2500 Gas turbines. The gearbox is 'designed and made in India', so is the ships suite etc.

The steel, which was supposed to be originally sourced from Russia/ Europe, was due to some 'circumstances' delayed or never came - MIDHANI developed the alloy and it was again manufactured in India. The Ships control suite, electronics, etc, was all developed in house.

One critical thing that I would like to mention - Indians Don't accept failure easily - esp. if it is an Indian Product - this means that every system and sub system was tested thorougly. If the requirement is that a system is to be tested for 100 psi for 3 hours and 6 cycles, we will test it to 120 psi for 6 hours for 12 cycles at least. This attitude leads to over-engineering everything possible to ensure that it works perfectly as expected with the downside being delays (esp. for a new product) and some times missing weight goals! Then we refine the design, improve it and then Version 2 is better - Version 3 is a further improvement.

[dragracer567]

What a feat! Very few nations on earth have the capability to build these behemoths! Its just a joy to see the INS Vikrant finally move, a majestic sight no doubt.

Now the wait starts to see which planes will actually serve on the INS Vikrant. There are probably some spare Mig-29ks since the INS Vikramaditya is under maintenance but eventually, the Navy won't have enough planes for both carriers.

[BoneCollector]

More snaps from today's sail, courtesy Indian Navy. Looks gorgeous.

Screenshot of the Press Release (attached pdf file below).

PIB1742282.pdf

[dragracer567]

A cool video of what I believe is the first helicopter landing on the new INS Vikrant. The following video shows footage from the cockpit of a Sea king landing on the deck of the INS Vikrant carrier during its sea trials.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qkob...=DefenceDecode

[kosjam]

One major issue with the hull being ready since 2013 and the vessel being finally launched in 2021 is that, the hull is already 8+ years old. Which means its already started rusting and losing strength. As someone from the marine field, 8 years of rust is more than a third of the life gone. In all probability, INS Vikrant will go for a refit in Cochin DD within a couple of years of being officially commissioned as the hull will require atleast some steelwork renewal basis 8 years of corrosion.

Considering that hulls can be made much faster than the internals, in addition to the fact that modular construction is the norm these days, better planning needs to go for the next IAC-2 build, assuming it even happens. After all, most of the technology (not all, but most) is alerady commercially being used (Battleship Hull architecture, defence armament, propulsion technology, Integrated Management Systems, communication and guidance systems etc), only the Aircraft Carrier specific technologies need to be concentrated upon, which would ensure that the hull does not languish in the yard, literally rusting away while people are doing trial and error fitment on board.

[dragracer567]

Quite a lot of chatter on the elevators used in the INS Vikrant. It seems that the elevators are somewhere between 9-10 meters according to some internet armchair experts. If true, the elevators cannot accommodate the Rafale M while F18 Super Hornet and the F35C are either tight fits or may not fit either. If that is indeed the case, it means that the carrier was designed with the expectation to accommodate the Mig-29k or the Naval Tejas but not western aircraft as the requirement evolved. This effectively limits the available aircraft that can be used in the INS Vikrant. This is also potentially a blow for Boeing which had gone as far as to test their aircraft on a shore-based ski-jump.

Offcourse, all the speculation seems to be extrapolation based on the images released and there hasn't been any official communication on this from the Navy to the best of our knowledge. We shall assume that there is a rationale for everything.

Arguably just as important as any new carrier is the carrier-based fighter that is intended to operate from it. Currently, the standard Indian Navy carrier fighter is the MiG-29K/KUB, which operates from the Vikramaditya. India ordered 45 examples of these multi-role jets in two batches. However, a successor is being sought under the Multi-Role Carrier Borne Fighter (MRCBF) competition, which calls for 57 new jets. These had been expected to operate from both Vikrant and the next indigenous carrier, although the elevator dimensions on the Vikrant could make that very difficult. In fact, it could mean that the Russian jet is the only feasible option for the Vikrant, which would potentially jeopardize the entire MRCBF effort.

With the indigenous HAL Naval Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), a carrier-capable version of the Indian Air Force’s Tejas, having been rejected by the navy, the MRCBF is likely to be chosen from one of three offerings, the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Dassault Rafale, or the MiG-29K. A carrier-based Gripen has been proposed, too, but is unlikely to displace any of the three off-the-shelf options, unless the Gripen is ordered for the Indian Air Force, too. Ironically, the unwanted Naval LCA would have been small enough to use the elevators on the Vikrant.

With an eye on MRCBF, Boeing has been especially active in demonstrating that the Super Hornet can operate from a ski jump deck, with a series of trials using the ground-based ramp at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland.

Source