INS Vikramaditya Test-Firing *Something* - What Is It?

[Koovie]

That is not strange on Soviet/Russian ships. The first Soviet Carriers of the "Kiev class" (which they called anti-submarine cruisers) were V/STOL ships. They were 'beefed-up' surface ships. The armament was awesome: Heavy SSM launchers, SAM launchers, ASW rocket launchers, Two Twin 76 mm Gun Mounts and 8 CIWS gun mounts. Now that was the armament that most Surface Ships would envy! The reason(s) for that was: their doctrine saw Carriers as ASW ships to attack enemy subs rather than Attack Carriers in the Western Doctrines; and the Soviet/Russian design concept has always seen each ship as a more autonomous unit than in the West. So while the Carriers would have screening ships; their CBGs were rather less elaborate in their composition. That philosophy has not changed dramatically though it is closer to western ideas now. They used a similar concept when designing their sensor fitments for their ships. Usually a Soviet/Russian Ship bristles with more Radar Scanners and Antennas than similar sized Western Warships, resulting in far greater 'redundant capacity'. Even that is changing but not sompletely so.

Vikramaditya in her previous avatar as the Gorshkov had even heavier armaments; most of which have been removed to fit the Ski-Jump forward.

I know that the Kiev class was a hybrid... but since Viki is a real carrier it was quite odd to me... and the IN never used the Soviet concept

 

[SirHatesALot]

Photon torpedoes?

Yup i thought so too,but then realized its obvious that you are............

 

[Capt.Popeye]

I know that the Kiev class was a hybrid... but since Viki is a real carrier it was quite odd to me... and the IN never used the Soviet concept

Gorshkov was no hybrid. Check out her original weaponry. Why were they there? The IN will not throw away all of them as the pictures above depict. With Vikramaditya's present design layout, even the space seems to be there for some of them. Look at the area of the deck to stbd. side of the Island. Not only can a Barak VLS canister go there, even a quad Uran launcher unit can fit. The RBUs (seen firing in the pictures) and AK-630 CIWS are mounted in Sponsons around the ship.

IN has absorbed many Soviet/Russian concepts and then adapted them to their own doctrines. Compare say the "Brahmaputra" or "Shivalik" designs to similar Western designs. They are hybrid in conceptual design.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

First is RBU-6000 as stated,second is kashtan definitely.Maybe its the upgraded kashmir or palash version.But in the second pic u can see the 2 gatling guns just under the missiles launch.

 

[Flynn Swagmire]

I think Anti Submarine rocket.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

A carrier with ASW rockets ..... thats strange.

Anti sub mortars are deadly against SSKs which don't have speed or dive capability to evade rocket depth charges used in 'brute force' method,but are difficult to detect precisely and hit with torpedoes.
As to why they are there,SSKs like to lie in wait and get within very close torpedo rage to ambush high value targets like carriers.In those situations its very effective offensive weapon.

But most important.It serves as defense against torpedoes.
''The Russian system uses phases and layers... the rockets initially fired are decoys that are fired to max range. Also fired in an inner layer is a barrage of mine rockets. If an incoming torpedo (which will be travelling rather slower than any antiship missile of course) is not diverted by the decoys it enters a small minefield with proximity fuzed mines that will blow up when the noise of the torpedos reaches a certain volume. (ie they are a certain distance away). If that fails (note the mine feild will be layed based on target information from the sonars do it will not be large, it will be small and dense and in the path of the torpedo so its chances of stopping the torpedo are pretty good) then the final layer is activated... a tight cluster of depth charge rockets set for the depth of the torpedo or slightly lower to try and kill it directly. ''


So these serve as defense against ambush by ultra quiet ssks.It creates both a noise screen as well as bubble screen. Both are effective in one situation or another. A wide spread of mortars will allow the target to maneuver without the sub having a solid track on what the new course of the target is