[V.Narayan]

Indian Naval Aviation welcomes its first woman pilot

From a moffusil girl in Bihar to becoming the first woman pilot of Indian Navy, it’s been a long journey for Sub-Lieutenant Shivangi

Excerpts from the press release of the Indian Navy

The thrum of a hovering helicopter with a Minister on board was what hooked Shivangi, a wide-eyed 10-year-old from Bihar’s Muzzafarpur, to flying. But then, as a regular moffusil girl born to a school teacher and a housewife, life moved on and she went on to graduate in mechanical engineering from the Sikkim-Manipal Institute of Technology.

While in college, a naval presentation made as part of a university entry scheme again stoked the latent desire in her to fly. She cleared the Service Selection Board (SSB) at Bhopal, but failed to get a call thanks to fewer vacancies.

A few months into her MTech at the Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, she attended another SSB in Bengaluru and made the cut. That was in 2018. After a six-month-long Naval Orientation Course at the Indian Naval Academy at Ezhimala, she spent another six months getting the hang of flying on a Pilatus basic trainer at the Air Force Academy (AFA).
The last six months were with the Kochi-based Indian Naval Air Squadron 550, known as ‘Flying Fish’, the alma mater of naval aviation in India, where she learnt to fly the Dornier maritime reconnaissance aircraft. On December 2nd, 2019 Sub Lieutenant Shivangi will earn her ‘wings’, going down in history as the first-ever woman to steer an Indian naval aircraft to the skies.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...le30053940.ece

Photo released by the IN

[V.Narayan]

Vikrant II undergoes engine fire-up trials. Project is said to be back on track. Basin trials are next. Basin trials are generally conducted like full dress rehearsal of the power train but done in controlled condition of the wet dock in which she is being built. Always done at low RPMs with the vessel restrained literally by stout ropes. The gas turbines, the clutching mechanism, the power shaft and the props are all tested. This is like a soft test before full engine trials in open sea. Progress has been slow but steady and because customer {Indian Navy} and builder {Cochin Shipyard} are working together there is a higher chance of the end product being acceptable to the customer.

https://m.economictimes.com/news/def...gle.com&amp_tf

[Aditya_Bhp]

The next batch of P8s, will they be based on the 737-NG or 737Max?

[ads11]

Originally Posted by Aditya_Bhp

The next batch of P8s, will they be based on the 737-NG or 737Max?

I think I remember something about this earlier in a thread, the Poseidon's are certainly not based on the Max. Simple way to tell is that they don't have the giant LEAP engines mounted further forward on the Max that are a primary culprit in that particular platforms downfall.

So I'd say based on the shape of the engine nacelles that we're looking at an older vintage of the 737 family, likely a NG or earlier.

The Boeing P-8 Poseidon (formerly Multimission Maritime Aircraft) is a military aircraft developed and produced by Boeing Defense, Space & Security, modified from the 737-800ERX

Turns out the latter is part of the NG indeed so there you go

[SmartCat]

National Interest questions the need for aircraft carriers in India-Pak context -

India Has Aircraft Carriers, But Are They Worth Anything?
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/bu...nything-105941

Pakistan has several means to attack Indian carriers — with near-undetectable submarines and anti-ship missiles — which must also operate relatively far from India itself in the western and northern Arabian Sea.

To directly threaten Pakistan, the small-deck carriers will have to maneuver nearer to shore — and thereby closer to “anti-access / area denial” weapons which could sink them. And even with a third carrier, the threat of land-based Pakistani aircraft will force the Indian Navy to dedicate a large proportion of its own air wings to defense — perhaps half of its available fighters, according to 2017 paper by Ben Wan Beng Ho for the Naval War College Review.

“Therefore, it is doubtful that any attack force launched from an Indian carrier would pack a significant punch,” Ho writes. “With aircraft available for strike duties barely numbering into the double digits, the Indian carrier simply cannot deliver a substantial ‘pulse’ of combat power against its adversary.”

Essentially, this makes Indian carriers’ self-defeating, with the flattops existing primarily to defend themselves from attack rather than taking the fight to their enemy. Carriers are also expensive symbols of national prestige, and it is unlikely the Indian Navy will want to risk losing one, two or all three. Under the circumstances, India’s investment in carriers makes more sense symbolically, and primarily as a way of keeping shipyards busy and shipyard workers employed.

Reply from ex-Indian Navy chief -

Too early to write off aircraft carriers: former Indian Navy Chief
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/72825783.cms

Shore-based air operations are still limited by range and that is why it is too early to write off aircraft carriers as they continue to bear huge influence at sea, former Indian Navy Chief Sunil Lanba said on Tuesday.

"A carrier battle group is a composite group of ships (including the aircraft carrier and submarines)...it brings huge capability to bear influence out at sea. So, in my opinion, it is too early to write off the aircraft carrier".

[ads11]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

National Interest questions the need for aircraft carriers in India-Pak context -..

I'd be extremely wary about anything from the National Interest. As far as "strategic affairs and defence" publications go, the National Interest is basically a rag of the same standard as the Daily Mail. They epitomise the worst when it comes to clickbait-y titles. There's no real quality and half the tripe they put out is a damn listicle of some sort. I'd stay well clear or read with a jaundiced eye if you must.. Make of it what you will.

Anyway on the carrier tangent, seems the PLAN has commissioned their second carrier into their fleet. See below:
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/mili...icially-enters

Will be interesting to see how this fares. They've already had it cruise through the Taiwan Strait in a not so subtle message so expect to see this doing the rounds in the SCS pretty soon, getting up close and personal with any USN Freedom of Navigation passages. Curiously the article says the Chinese plan of fielding their AWACs (their blatant EC-2 Hawkeye clone) off of the Shandong! Hoping that's a typo because otherwise I'd be mighty keen to see how the poor PLAN pilot fares launching a big old bird like that off a ski jump flat top carrier, if it's even possible..

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

National Interest questions the need for aircraft carriers in India-Pak context -

India Has Aircraft Carriers, But Are They Worth Anything?

Reply from ex-Indian Navy chief -

SmartCat, Thank you for sharing this article from National Interest and the response too.

All, When journalists, who write on naval matters, run out of topics they turn to the eternal debate on carrier versus no carrier and carrier versus its vulnerability debate. This writer is no different. Nothing he writes is new. It has been written of and studied for over 50 years now. Viewing the IN only from the limited perspective of a conventional Indo-Pak conflict is a very narrow viewpoint given all the risks & responsibilities the IN is obliged to cover and ignores the dozen other roles to be performed around the year (more on that later). IMHO he has analysed matters in a rather video game sort of a way. To sink a ship you must first hit it with enough explosives, to hit it you must first find it. And you cannot assume your target will sit there and pray. In 1971 the IN used its then brand new missile boats in a way that surprised the Russians & Americans by towing them to off Karachi and using the Styx guided missile to bombard Karachi harbour, not once but twice. We were worried the Pakistani Air force will come after us as we make our escape and our missile boats were well out of IAF fighter cover range for several hours. But we took the chance. And lo behold the PAF never came on both occassions - the first time out of confusion at their end and the second time because they thought we wouldnt take the risk again!!. War is about boldness & out of box thinking and not just theoretical calculations of missile ranges. In 1971 again PNS Ghazi would definitely have sunk INS Vikrant if she found the carrier. The IN also knew the value of that if. The story of that episode is here in post number 36 https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/comme...an-navy-3.html (Indian Aviation - Hawker Seahawk with the Indian Navy)

Any Navy worth its salt has many functions to discharge in peace times and in grey times like the ones we face now at sea versus China. The Navy has to equip itself equally for the 99.9% of the days it is in the grey growling & hissing zone as it must for the 0.1% days when it is actually at war. A warship is the last 400 feet of your nations foreign policy and nothing epitomizes that better than a carrier. A warship such as an aircraft carrier has many roles to play - power projection, a shot across the bows, ASW, air cover for an amphibious landing, disaster support and many more. How a real war will play out we can only guess and the author has touched on barely one out of three dozen scenarios. It is better to believe those who put their money where their mouth is rather than listen to those who only opine. There is a reason why the UK has just commissioned its first two giant carriers - the first non-V/STOL carriers to be laid down in that country since WW-II; and why China has just commissioned its first home grown carrier; and the super thoughtful Japanese are building helicopter carriers.

We have kept our fixed wing carrier skills alive at times by the skin of our teeth due to limited budgets and old vessels. Unless you get to a certain point in GDP and national ship building skills you cannot support a carrier in fullness. We have just about got to that point or are getting there. But if we had not invested in INS Vikrant and the humble Seahawks in 1961 we would need two decades today to build the skill and the whole training-logistics-doctrine chain.

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by ads11

Anyway on the carrier tangent, seems the PLAN has commissioned their second carrier into their fleet. See below:
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/mili...icially-enters

This I think will be the last of the Dalian shipyard built carrier.
China has essentially setup a carrier production line near Shanghai. These carriers, it is surmised, will be significantly bigger.

NI I think had a pretty good article on how the Serbs tracked and shot down a stealth aircraft. Never found a comparable article elsewhere. Not to say NI is not hugely biased.

Regards
Sutripta

[V.Narayan]

The 2+2 Indo-US dialogue is set to take place in a few days. This is the highest level working group between India & USA where the External Affairs and Defence Ministers/Secretaries on both sides thrash out the core of defence, strategic and foreign affairs co-ordination and co-operation between the two countries. Interestingly Rajnath Singh was given a demo of the Super Hornet F/A-18 along with Boeing’s support for a full local production programme. The Super Hornet is a great aircraft and has been selected by Germany, Switzerland, Finland as their next multi-role fighter.
Rafale? Super Hornet? – for the IAF and the IN? We are back to 2006.

[skanchan95]

The Naval LCA Tejas has made a historic first landing on the deck of INS Vikramaditya at 10:20 AM today. The jet was flown by experienced Naval and Tejas pilot, Commodre Jaideep Maolankar. Proud Day.

[Gansan]

But the Navy rejected the Tejas as too heavy and under powered for carrier operations some time ago?

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Gansan

But the Navy rejected the Tejas as too heavy and under powered for carrier operations some time ago?

Your statement is correct. However even if the fully loaded Tejas was deemed under-powered it makes sense to complete carrier landing and takeoff tests in a lightly loaded condition to learn what we can of testing & trials methods. In my opinion the Navy should induct a flight of 4 Tejas's and integrate them with INS Vikramaditya. Even lightly loaded in peace time (which is 99% of the time) there is value in learning what to do better with future marks of Tejas.

[ads11]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

The Naval LCA Tejas has made a historic first landing on the deck of INS Vikramaditya at 10:20 AM today. The jet was flown by experienced Naval and Tejas pilot, Commodre Jaideep Maolankar. Proud Day.

Forgive the quality of the video but I first came across the news scrolling through Instagram of all places:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7Lw55VD...d=fuv95y9q64qw
(Link to the video clip of the arrested landing)

With Vikrant entering the final phase of construction, belatedly, at least it's a bright start to the year. Also it would've been quite the sight to see the naval LCA land on Vikrant, hitherto unthinkable and long overdue.

Anyway the next test I'm extremely keen to see is the take off performance of this prototype from Vikramaditya.

Update: https://twitter.com/livefist/status/...375643648?s=19

Twitter link from Live Fist. Hopefully should be easier to view the landing now

[Sutripta]

The Tejas which landed on the carrier: which engine?

Regards
Sutripta

[ads11]

Off the top of my head the engine on that jet would likely be one of two General Electric options, either the F404 or the F414. Or at least that's what I seem to remember. The latter being the newer variant, rated at higher thrust. I believe that was advertised as being one of the major upgrades in the Mark 1A variant of the LCA so logic would dictate that given the IN concerns of underpowered platforms, the manufacturer would lump the stronger engine. Especially so given there's no catapult to help fling the little jet off the flat top