India launched its first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant on Monday. It is the biggest warship to be built by India and will also mark India's entry into a select club of countries capable of designing and building a carrier of this size. India is now only the fifth county in the world, after the US, the UK, Russia and France, to build a ship of this size. CNN-IBN's International Affairs editor Surya Gangadharan joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on the launch of INS Vikrant.
Q. A great achievement in the history of this country in terms of military modernization, self-sufficiency has to be the hallmark going forward. The next in line should be the nuclear powered submarine. How many aircraft carriers and submarines should India have to patrol its border and the Indian Ocean? Asked by: EM
A. Senior naval officers say that ideally, the Indian Navy should have at least three carriers, one each for the western and eastern fleets and one in reserve which would be at port for maintenance and repair. The nuclear powered carrier is yet to be decided on but the second indigenous carrier will be bigger than Vikrant. As for subs, there cabinet is considering the line of indigenous subs that we will build here. Nuclear subs we already have the arihant and possibly two more in its class, maybe even two more of the akula class attack subs.
Q. I read reports that a Chinese General mentioned that INS Vikrant uses technologies of 1980's and hence do not poses any real threat as China is already building new Aircraft Carriers. Is it true that INS Vikrant which will be battle ready by 2020 is not even technologically advanced as in 2013 or 2000? Asked by: Nikhil
A. Don't believe what is said overseas about the Vikrantg. It's got several firsts including Indian marine grade steel. That's a huge first. The Vikrant has state of art sensors, indian made sonars, software and electronics. These can be upgraded in house, we don't need to go to any foreign firm. The Chinese are yet to build a carrier. They have only refurbished a soviet era carrier. So in that sense we are ahead of them. The Vikrant has sent a message to the world about our capabilities.
Q. Hi Surya, Is India sending out a subtle message to China by doing launching an aircraft carrier? What do you think are the larger implications of this act? Asked by: Rajesh
A. It's not just to China. It's to the world. We are the only Asian country besides Japan to be able to build a carrier. The coverage the Vikrant launch has got in the world press you should check out on the net. There was a German TV crew covering the launch, there were inquiries from CCTV of China, believe me the world is watching.
Q. Why did India not go for a nuclear powered engine? Will INS Vishal have a nuke powered engine? Asked by: Manav
A. This is the first carrier and the aim was to use the same kind of gas turbine that is currently powering other ships in the Indian Navy. That is the LM2500. The next carrier (am not sure it will be called Vishal) could be nuclear powered but that will depend on what the navy wants. Would it be better to build another carrier of the same dimensions as the Vikrant (normally there are at least 3 of a ship series) or go in for something bigger. I think it will be bigger but the nuke powered question is still up in the air.
Q. @Nikhil: Why did India go for the ski-jump design and are there any plans to have a CATOBAR type aircraft carrier? Ans: Vikrant is STOBAR cum Ski jump. India went for this design primarily because it is cheap, secondarily because none of the aircrafts that we have in our naval inventory (Mig29, Harrier, LCA) need CATOBAR. INS Vishal that's currently being designed is a 65T CATOBAR aircraft carrier. Asked by: Techmechie
A. The carrier had to be configured for the kind of aircraft it would fly. The MiG-29K was the chosen aircraft. The first Vikrant was also ski jump. We changed after Viraat came in because naval aviation had Harrier jump jets. The new Vikrant sees a return to the ski jump. The next one may have a catapult and I understand a naval team was in the US recently checking out this equipment.
Q. Some Answers Some claim that with this money spent on INS Vikrant we could have bought Nimitz class carrier from US. Whats your claim on this ? Nimitz is a nuclear powered aircraft carrier that has over 100000 tonnes of displacement while Vikrant displaces a little less than 38000 tonnes. Do the math. DO you think you can buy Nimitz with the cost of Vikrant? Asked by: Techmechie
A. The question you must ask is what are our requirements? Do we need a 100,000 tonne carrier like Nimitz. You think the US will sell it to us. There were some rumours about the Enterprise being offered to India but it was never confirmed. The US would never make such an offer unless it was heavily limited by conditions. The US Navy needs 100,000 tonne nuke powered carriers as they have world wide interests and they have to come a long way from the continental US. Our interests lie closer to our shores, the Indian Ocean, the Arab Gulf states, S.E.Asia, the east coast of Africa. As for cost, it will run into billions and billions of dollars. Just to give you an idea, the Russians are charging us more than 2 billion dollars for the refurbished Vikramaditya; a brand new Vikrant may cost us a little more and all the technology is ours, the manpower uti8lised is ours, Indians are making money and being employed. The Nimitz can't get you all that
Q. Why did India go for the ski-jump design and are there any plans to have a CATOBAR type aircraft carrier? Asked by: Nikhil
A. I've answered this already. The old Vikrant was ski jump because it was suitable for the aircraft used at that time: Basically Alize. When we got the Viraat we had harrier jump jets that don't need any ski lift. Now we are going back to the ski jump because we have the MiG-29K. Later the LCA Navy may come. The next carrier will be hevier but whether catapult or something else we still don't know
Q. It is indeed a proud moment. This should have been telecast the whole day, explaining its features, a peep inside the huge ship, its capability etc etc, who built, the team behind. Rather what we witnessed was political rabble rousing over Kishtwar, who did it, why was Jaitley not allowed etc etc...this is where we are not able to bring the Indian pride out. I am sure for all those who watched, it is was indeed a great moment. Asked by: S ESHWAR
A. It was a great moment, I was there. You get a true sense of the size of the carrier when it was lined up long the jetty in the channel. It's huge! We were not allowed to shoot below decks because work is ongoing. The engines, gear boxes, diesel alternators, A/C plant, pumps, miles of cabling are yet to be integrated. Then testing and more testing. The island is yet to come up on the flight deck. So there's a lot of work pending and we'll get a better sense maybe next year
Q. Real time to full commissioning is around 2020 as I have heard. Shouldn't we should have taken some more time before we pat our backs, given the track record we have it may be another 5-10 years after 2020 when the ship is war ready. Asked by: Vivek
A. Sea trials are for 2016, formal induction is 2020. That would also be the time when the MiG-29K fighters and Kamov helos will embark on the Vikrant. Look the Vikrant has been a technology breakthrough for India. We are using Indian developed steel, from now on all ships being built in India will use Indian steel, which is as good if not better than Russian, German, or Swedish steel. It reduces our inventory of steel, repairs and upgrades will become cheaper as it will be done in Indian shipyards. Give credit to the navy, Cochin Shipyard and SAIL/DRDO, they have delivered yes with delays. But if you look at the Queen Elizabeth carrier the UK is building that's also delayed and they hav been building ships for centuries.
Q. Is the Viraat going to be decommissioned once the INS Vikrant 2 enters service? Asked by: Chandru
A. I guess it will continue for some more years as it has undergone a rather expensive refit. The only problem is the Harrier jump jets on the Viraat are pretty old and at some point a decision will have to be taken to retire them. The what do you do with the Viraat.
Q. With the Vikrant coming into the IN, we are looking at a 3 Battle Carrier Group Navy. Will this be effective and sufficient in thwarting the Chinese Asked by: Chandru
A. More likely two CBGs because by December we should have the Vikramaditya with its complement of MiG-29Ks and by 2020 the Vikrant. So two battle groups. Not sure where the Viraat will fit in. The navy is keen on a third carrier (now under design at Cochin Shipyard) but that is still a long way off. The third carrier will ensure two battle groups all the time at sea with one under repair and refit
Q. It is great to have a carrier--congrats to all-2 related question-(1) by virtue of its size is a carrier easy target (2) can the abandoned carrier-say ours or bought as scrap-be used as landing n take off platform-in case of emergency-as dek is still intact-we can locate it strategically n just have re fueling facility-it will act as additional force multiplier. Asked by: avinash
A. Carriers are sitting ducks yes because all they have for defence are close in weapon systems and missiles. But they also have jet fighters and helicopters. Then no carrier sails out without its complement of destroyers, frigates, ASW ships and submarines. They defend the carrier and provide a screen against enemy attack, whether undersea or from the surface or air. It sounds rather fanciful. When you can have a mobile carrier that can cross hundreds of miles of ocean in days, why settle for some "abandoned platform". Where and how will you plant it? In this age of beyond visual range warfare, any missile can hit it from miles away.
Q. How does Vikrant Compare to China's under construction carriers? Asked by: Nikhil
A. The Chinese I understand are building a copy of the Liaoning, which is originally Russian. Comparatively, Vikrant is Indian (with a little design help from Fincantieri of Italy), the marine grade steel was developed in India, the hull mounted sonars are Indian and a lot else.
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