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INS Vikramaditya to get Barak-1 from de-commissioned Ship
Published April 17, 2015 | By admin
SOURCE: THE TELEGRAPH
India’s most powerful warship, the INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier, described as a sitting duck because it lacked an air defence system, will finally be fitted with one from another ship that is soon to be de-commissioned.
The arming of the carrier with a close-in weapons system a year and a half after it was commissioned is just the latest illustration of the Indian Navy’s struggle with finding the means to match its requirements.
Next week, the navy’s latest warship, the Visakhapatnam, is set to be launched, or put to water, in Mumbai. The launch means it is three years away from being commissioned. But this is a rare instance of the navy being happy with the schedule of a warship. Christened after the east coast city, the destroyer is a follow-on of the Kolkata-class that was commissioned last year.
The INS Kolkata was delayed by nearly four years partly because of tardy deliveries of the propulsion system. Like the Kolkata, the Visakhapatnam is also being powered by four gas turbines from Ukrainian firm Zorya-Mashproekt.
The engines have been ordered and we do not foresee a problem, Vice-Admiral Ashok Subhedar, controller of warship production and acquisitions (CWP&A), said today. “We are keeping tabs on the developments (in Ukraine) and Russia will help out.”
The Indian Air Force, which is also dependent on supplies from Ukraine, was confident that the turbulence in the erstwhile Soviet Republic would not affect it. But five Antonov 32 aircraft that were sent to Ukraine for upgrades have been stuck in that country since August.
India’s military ties with the erstwhile Soviet Union (of which Ukraine was a part) run so deep and so long that hostilities in that part of the world still threaten to hold vital Indian army, navy and air force platforms hostage to geopolitical whim.
The carrier Vikramaditya, earlier known as the Gorshkov, also originated in the Ukrainian city of Nikolaev. The carrier will go into an upgrade in Karwar, on the Karnataka coast, where the Barak surface-to-air missile system cannibalised from a 32-year-old frigate, the INS Godavari, will be installed on the carrier. The missile system is half the age of the frigate and is still usable, navy sources said.
Navy officers, however, insisted that the Vikramaditya’s lack of an air defence system, so far, does not take away from its potency. The ship’s main firepower is with the fighter jets – MiG29Ks – that embark it. The officers also said that carriers typically operate in a battlegroup and are complemented by other ships that have capabilities it may lack.
The navy is still expecting a long-range surface-to-air missile system, currently being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation with an Israeli entity, and anti-submarine warfare suites (towed-array systems) for its frontline ships.
The navy wants four Visakhapatnam (or project 15B) class of destroyers estimated to cost Rs 29,400 crore. That means, at least 16 Zorya-Mashproekt gas turbines from Ukraine to keep them running. The gas turbines also power the Kolkata-class (three ships) destroyers and the Talwar-class (six) frigates.
Published April 17, 2015 | By admin
SOURCE: THE TELEGRAPH
India’s most powerful warship, the INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier, described as a sitting duck because it lacked an air defence system, will finally be fitted with one from another ship that is soon to be de-commissioned.
The arming of the carrier with a close-in weapons system a year and a half after it was commissioned is just the latest illustration of the Indian Navy’s struggle with finding the means to match its requirements.
Next week, the navy’s latest warship, the Visakhapatnam, is set to be launched, or put to water, in Mumbai. The launch means it is three years away from being commissioned. But this is a rare instance of the navy being happy with the schedule of a warship. Christened after the east coast city, the destroyer is a follow-on of the Kolkata-class that was commissioned last year.
The INS Kolkata was delayed by nearly four years partly because of tardy deliveries of the propulsion system. Like the Kolkata, the Visakhapatnam is also being powered by four gas turbines from Ukrainian firm Zorya-Mashproekt.
The engines have been ordered and we do not foresee a problem, Vice-Admiral Ashok Subhedar, controller of warship production and acquisitions (CWP&A), said today. “We are keeping tabs on the developments (in Ukraine) and Russia will help out.”
The Indian Air Force, which is also dependent on supplies from Ukraine, was confident that the turbulence in the erstwhile Soviet Republic would not affect it. But five Antonov 32 aircraft that were sent to Ukraine for upgrades have been stuck in that country since August.
India’s military ties with the erstwhile Soviet Union (of which Ukraine was a part) run so deep and so long that hostilities in that part of the world still threaten to hold vital Indian army, navy and air force platforms hostage to geopolitical whim.
The carrier Vikramaditya, earlier known as the Gorshkov, also originated in the Ukrainian city of Nikolaev. The carrier will go into an upgrade in Karwar, on the Karnataka coast, where the Barak surface-to-air missile system cannibalised from a 32-year-old frigate, the INS Godavari, will be installed on the carrier. The missile system is half the age of the frigate and is still usable, navy sources said.
Navy officers, however, insisted that the Vikramaditya’s lack of an air defence system, so far, does not take away from its potency. The ship’s main firepower is with the fighter jets – MiG29Ks – that embark it. The officers also said that carriers typically operate in a battlegroup and are complemented by other ships that have capabilities it may lack.
The navy is still expecting a long-range surface-to-air missile system, currently being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation with an Israeli entity, and anti-submarine warfare suites (towed-array systems) for its frontline ships.
The navy wants four Visakhapatnam (or project 15B) class of destroyers estimated to cost Rs 29,400 crore. That means, at least 16 Zorya-Mashproekt gas turbines from Ukraine to keep them running. The gas turbines also power the Kolkata-class (three ships) destroyers and the Talwar-class (six) frigates.
