COM BREAK: F-18 with two AGM-84s made short takeoff from Indian carrier

[Raj-Hindustani]

NEW DELHI — Boeing employees have completed a demonstration of the ability of a F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft to take off from an Indian aircraft carrier with two AGM-84 Harpoon missiles, which exceeds the requirement of New Delhi [Indian side] for it [its] Multi-Role Carrier Fighter.

F-18 with two AGM-84s made short takeoff from Indian carrier

bulgarianmilitary.com

 

[Two banks of the River]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1548696055838978048

Not just two, Boeing is saying 4 Harpoons.

 

[Abdul Rehman Majeed]

NEW DELHI — Boeing employees have completed a demonstration of the ability of a F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft to take off from an Indian aircraft carrier with two AGM-84 Harpoon missiles, which exceeds the requirement of New Delhi [Indian side] for it [its] Multi-Role Carrier Fighter.

F-18 with two AGM-84s made short takeoff from Indian carrier

bulgarianmilitary.com

Which carrier is this? Old one or the new one?

 

[Two banks of the River]

Which carrier is this? Old one or the new one?

The 26 will be used to raise units for new one. R11.

But as per the claims of Boeing so far, it seems F18 will fit on the R33 too.

 

[Abdul Rehman Majeed]

The 26 will be used to raise units for new one. R11.

But as per the claims of Boeing so far, it seems F18 will fit on the R33 too.

Do you plan to replace MIG-29Ks with F/A-18s on both your carriers?

 

[Two banks of the River]

Do you plan to replace MIG-29Ks with F/A-18s on both your carriers?

Mig29K will be relieved of carrier duties for sure.

But Super Hornets won't do it imo. Two full strength squadrons will first need to be raised for Vikrant, the new carrier. That's around 36-40 airframes.

Any further purchase after that and before 2030 can surely start to operate from Vikramaditya too.

 

[Abdul Rehman Majeed]

Mig29K will be relieved of carrier duties for sure.

But Super Hornets won't do it imo. Two full strength squadrons will first need to be raised for Vikrant, the new carrier. That's around 36-40 airframes.

Any further purchase after that and before 2030 can surely start to operate from Vikramaditya too.

Wiki has the below. If you are looking at 1-1 replacement, you need 23+26=49. On top of that you will need at least another 1/3 reserves assuming F/A-18 has 65% availability.

So you will need at least 65 F/A-18 fighters.

INS Vikramaditya - R33​

Aircraft carried

Maximum of 36 aircraft including[10] 26 × Mikoyan MiG-29K multi-role fighters[13] 10 × Kamov Ka-31 AEW&C and Kamov Ka-28 ASW helicopters[13]

INS Vikrant (R11)​

Aircraft carried

21–23

 

[Windjammer]

The Indian armed forces have never operated any American combat aircraft in its history. The latest carrier based MiG-29 K that IN deployed had serviceability rate as low as 15%.
It needs to be seen how will Indians cope with American equipment if they go for it.

 

[Abdul Rehman Majeed]

The Indian armed forces have never operated any American combat aircraft in its history. The latest carrier based MiG-29 K that IN deployed had serviceability rate as low as 15%.
It needs to be seen how will Indians cope with American equipment if they go for it.

A couple of years ago US navy had the mission capable rates of only about 46 percent for F/A-18Es and 49 percent for F/A-18Fs. They later increased them to between 63 and 76 percent.

If the Indians get 65% availability rates with their F/A-18s like US navy then it would be a big jump from their current Mig-29Ks which are only available at 15-20%.

 

[Two banks of the River]

Wiki has the below. If you are looking at 1-1 replacement, you need 23+26=49. On top of that you will need at least another 1/3 reserves assuming F/A-18 has 65% availability.

So you will need at least 65 F/A-18 fighters.

INS Vikramaditya - R33​

Aircraft carried

Maximum of 36 aircraft including[10] 26 × Mikoyan MiG-29K multi-role fighters[13] 10 × Kamov Ka-31 AEW&C and Kamov Ka-28 ASW helicopters[13]

INS Vikrant (R11)​

Aircraft carried

21–23

The original plans in very early 2000s called for 2 aircraft carriers. One each for East and West. And both aircraft carriers have their own airwing. So the original plan was to buy around 90 Mig29K to raise 4 squadrons. 2 each in East and West.

The 43 Mig29K are under Western Naval Command to serve R33.

The 26 new aircrafts will be raised in the east for R11. Before Mig29Ks can be relieved of Aircraft Carrier duties, we will need to buy around 16-20 more new airframes for East.

Once that's done, then things will be decided based on resources left.

But interoperability will mean when just one aircraft carrier is operating, the 26 can fly from that one aircraft carrier.

A couple of years ago US navy had the mission capable rates of only about 46 percent for F/A-18Es and 49 percent for F/A-18Fs. They later increased them to between 63 and 76 percent.

If the Indians get 65% availability rates with their F/A-18s like US navy then it would be a big jump from their current Mig-29Ks which are only available at 15-20%.

The overall availability rate (it simply means that irrespective of aircraft carrier or shore based facilities) is decent 60%. It's the problem with faulty FADEC of RD33MK series which means that when on aircraft carrier the operation suffers.

The Mig29K units are seeing deployments north along the western borders and in Leh.

As for operational availability, the P8I fleet has 85-90% availability. So American planes shouldn't exactly be a problem.

The Indian armed forces have never operated any American combat aircraft in its history. The latest carrier based MiG-29 K that IN deployed had serviceability rate as low as 15%.
It needs to be seen how will Indians cope with American equipment if they go for it.

C17, C130J and P8I all have actually very good availability of more than 85%. And given the investment going in for GE F414 series maintenance and building up reserves, the operations of Super Hornet, "if purchased" should be fine.

 

[kmc_chacko]

Do you plan to replace MIG-29Ks with F/A-18s on both your carriers?

No F-18 only for IAC-1, but MIG-29s will continue with INS Vikramaditya till induction of TEDBF.

 

[Abdul Rehman Majeed]

The original plans in very early 2000s called for 2 aircraft carriers. One each for East and West. And both aircraft carriers have their own airwing. So the original plan was to buy around 90 Mig29K to raise 4 squadrons. 2 each in East and West.

The 43 Mig29K are under Western Naval Command to serve R33.

The 26 new aircrafts will be raised in the east for R11. Before Mig29Ks can be relieved of Aircraft Carrier duties, we will need to buy around 16-20 more new airframes for East.

Once that's done, then things will be decided based on resources left.

But interoperability will mean when just one aircraft carrier is operating, the 26 can fly from that one aircraft carrier.


The overall availability rate (it simply means that irrespective of aircraft carrier or shore based facilities) is decent 60%. It's the problem with faulty FADEC of RD33MK series which means that when on aircraft carrier the operation suffers.

The Mig29K units are seeing deployments north along the western borders and in Leh.

As for operational availability, the P8I fleet has 85-90% availability. So American planes shouldn't exactly be a problem.


C17, C130J and P8I all have actually very good availability of more than 85%. And given the investment going in for GE F414 series maintenance and building up reserves, the operations of Super Hornet, "if purchased" should be fine.

MiG-29

Russia

multirole

MiG-29K

45[170][171]

As per Wiki you only have 45 MIG-29Ks.

The availability rates for MIG-29Ks were horrible hence I think you were planning 90 fighters.

As I calculated earlier 65 F/A-18s should be enough to support both your carriers and you can repurpose your 45 MIG-29Ks for shore based operations.

Why are you only going for 26 instead of 65 which will get you a better price?

I suspect Indian Navy is short on money.

No F-18 only for IAC-1, but MIG-29s will continue with INS Vikramaditya till induction of TEDBF.

How many years did it take for your LCA? Naval fighters are more complex.

I will bet that both your Aircraft carriers will be decomissioned by the time your naval fighter is ready.

 

[Two banks of the River]

MiG-29

Russia

multirole

MiG-29K

45[170][171]

As per Wiki you only have 45 MIG-29Ks.

The availability rates for MIG-29Ks were horrible hence I think you were planning 90 fighters.

As I calculated earlier 65 F/A-18s should be enough to support both your carriers and you can repurpose your 45 MIG-29Ks for shore based operations.

Why are you only going for 26 instead of 65 which will get you a better price?

I suspect Indian Navy is short on money.

Initial plans called for 3 squadrons import of 57 airframes. But it has been cut down as a cap on import has been introduced. Less than 30% of CAPEX allocated to Navy can be used for import. And given than MH60R and P8I procurements are still going on, it would be extremely difficult to find the funding to import.

This is where Rafale has advantage. Given a possible order from IAF they can propose a deal in Indian Rupees to assemble the airframes in India, meaning the deal will no longer be an import and greater funds can be allocated.

 

[Abdul Rehman Majeed]

Initial plans called for 3 squadrons import of 57 airframes. But it has been cut down as a cap on import has been introduced. Less than 30% of CAPEX allocated to Navy can be used for import. And given than MH60R and P8I procurements are still going on, it would be extremely difficult to find the funding to import.

This is where Rafale has advantage. Given a possible order from IAF they can propose a deal in Indian Rupees to assemble the airframes in India, meaning the deal will no longer be an import and greater funds can be allocated.

May be you should operate Rafale-M on INS Vikramaditya - R33 and F/A-18 on INS Vikrant - R11.

 

[Two banks of the River]

May be you should operate Rafale-M on INS Vikramaditya - R33 and F/A-18 on INS Vikrant - R11.

Navy has to fund for 6 Missile Corvette, 8 Multi Role Corvettes, 11 OPVs and 6 SSN along with 40-50 Dhruvs and 6 P8I too in coming immediate future. Cannot afford to have 2 different types.