P E R S P E C T I V E

INS Vikramaditya
Navy’s dream carrier packs a punch
After a long wait, the state-of-the-art aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, is on its way to India. Bristling with the latest warfare paraphernalia, the sophisticated warship will widen the Indian Navy’s arc of dominance.
By Ajay Banerjee
Picture a scenario: It is the dead of the night over the Indian Ocean. A MiG 29-K fighter of the Indian Navy has just completed a mission and heads back to the sea-borne aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya some 400 km away. If the pilot communicates with the warship over the radio, he could reveal his and the ship’s position to enemy radio interceptors, resulting in immediate retaliation.

In Asia, India ahead of the race
India, Japan and China are vying for what strategic circles term as the ‘Asian aircraft carrier race’. As of now, India is the leader with 50 years of experience in operating sea-borne aircraft carriers while Japan, for the first time since World War II, is making flat-deck warships but doesn’t call them ‘aircraft carriers’. China is the newest entrant and is practicing ship-deck landings on its newly launched carrier.

‘A force multiplier’
IN the past two decades, the world has looked at India’s military might differently as it has developed a potent naval force, says former Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta, during whose tenure cost negotiation was done. INS Vikramaditya will enhance capabilities at sea. MiG29-K, its on-deck fighter, will protect Indian assets at sea, he says.

INS Vikramaditya
Navy’s dream carrier packs a punch
After a long wait, the state-of-the-art aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, is on its way to India. Bristling with the latest warfare paraphernalia, the sophisticated warship will widen the Indian Navy’s arc of dominance.
By Ajay Banerjee

Picture a scenario: It is the dead of the night over the Indian Ocean. A MiG 29-K fighter of the Indian Navy has just completed a mission and heads back to the sea-borne aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya some 400 km away. If the pilot communicates with the warship over the radio, he could reveal his and the ship’s position to enemy radio interceptors, resulting in immediate retaliation. Alternatively, he uses the onboard computer and ‘locks on’ to the radar complex onboard the Vikramaditya.

The radar complex has a system called the ‘Resistor-E’ which guides the fighter jet virtually in autopilot mode and makes it reach just 30 metres away from the warship, thence the pilot takes over for a final landing — all the while maintaining what naval aviators call a ‘zip-lip’ procedure or total radio silence. It will be the first-ever such facility onboard an Indian naval warship, propelling it into the very exclusive club of nations like the US, France and Russia to have similar capacities. In naval parlance, the ‘Resistor-E’ is a microwave landing system and precision approach radar and beacon. In a lay term, it is like an instrument-aided landing system (ILS) installed at airports, which allow operations in all-weather conditions. The system of the warship is even more sophisticated as there is no margin of error on a moving ship. This is just one of the several examples of what the aircraft carrier will add in terms of capacities and the latest technologies to the Navy’s war-fighting abilities.

Loaded with an array of sensors, radars, communication aids and on-deck fighter planes equipped with state-of-the-art missiles, the Vikramaditya is like a swift-sailing behemoth, capable of detecting threats within 500 km of air space. Once airborne, the fighter jets will widen the arc of dominance with an ability to hit at targets in air, on land and on the sea surface while helicopters specialising in anti-submarine warfare will pick out under-sea threats.

The heart of the operational network that infuses life into the warship’s combat systems is its advanced combat management system called ‘LESORUB-E’. It gathers data from the ship’s sensors, radars and data links (including imagery available from the fighter jets, helicopters, UAV’s and the naval satellite launched in August this year) to provide the commanders a comprehensive tactical picture and then take a decision. “It generates continuous air, surface and under-sea scenario and evaluates threat for warfare functions,” the Navy said, explaining how it would change the dynamics.

A senior naval officer in New Delhi explained: “These abilities are so far unparalleled in the Indian Navy. It will enhance our foothold in the immediate maritime neighbourhood and in the international and foreign waters.”

Enabling the 44,500-tonne warship in its swiftness, are eight boilers built by Russian supplier Baltizky Zavod, which produce steam at high pressure, almost 1.5 times more than any existing Indian naval ship. A very high level of automation requires minimal human intervention. The boilers power four enormous propellers, each greater in diameter than twice the height of an average male and generate 2,00,000 shaft horse power. The warship has an arrangement system to enable it to carry out operations unscathed even in a nuclear fallout zone.

Lethal MiG 29-K

One of the biggest additions will be MiG-29Ks that have ‘four times’ greater capacity than the existing naval fighters — the British-origin Sea Harriers. The planes can fly for 1,300 km and double the distance after mid-air refuelling using the IAF’s IL-78. As per a fact-sheet by Russia, work to develop the sea version of the widely acclaimed MiG-29 (used by air forces, including IAF) started in 2004. The ‘K’ in MiG-29K stands for ‘Korabelny’, meaning ‘ship borne’ in Russian. The planes have already been delivered and are stationed at the naval airbase in Goa.

The aircraft are powered by the new RD-33MK engines that have augmented thrust and the fuel capacity has been increased by over 50 per cent over the traditional MiG-29 aircraft. It will carry the Zhuk-ME radar which provides a longer detection range of air targets. It can carry guided air-to-air missiles, including medium-range missiles, with active radar homing warheads and R-73E short-range attack missiles for close manoeuvring air combat. It can deploy Kh-31A and Kh-35A missiles with active radar homing heads.

Warship to carrier

Commissioned into the Soviet navy in 1987 as ‘Baku’, it was a warship carrying helicopters and vertical takeoff and landing fighters Yak 36 and 38. These were Soviet version of the Sea Harriers which India was already using in that era. It was a ship carrying long-range attack missiles, artillery guns and submarine warfare capability, but did not have a traditional flight deck. After the Soviet Union collapse, it was renamed ‘Admiral Gorshkov’ and was put to hibernation after its last sailing in 1995.

When it was offered to India in 1995, New Delhi was looking for a conventional aircraft carrier allowing powerful twin-engine fighters to operate. The refit involved degutting of wiring, equipment removal, refit and re-equipping the ship with new ‘ski jump’ that allowed fighter jets to take off and also have a set of three arrester wires which stall the plane when it lands.

Since fighter jets remain housed inside the belly of the ship, it needed installation of two lifts. Some 2,300 km of new electrical cabling was put and 2,500 tonnes of new steel plates were used to strengthen the outer hull. Fitment of reverse osmosis plants and new AC and refrigeration plants was also done. Sensors and equipment like long-range air surveillance radars and electronic warfare suite capable of detection and localisation of electronic emissions has transformed the ship into a modern platform. This was needed to operate aircraft, including MiG29K, Sea Harriers and Kamov 31, and Kamov 28, Sea King, ALH-Dhruv and Chetak helicopters.

The biggest challenge was the creation of a flight deck. It involved increasing the breadth at the flight deck; strengthening the area of arrested wires and runway; elongation of rear-end; and a new ‘ski jump’ at an elevation of 14 degrees.

Captain PVS Satish, Navy spokesperson, says: “The floating airfield has an overall length of about 284 metres and a maximum beam of about 60 metres — as much as three football fields put together. Standing about 20 storeys tall (from the keel to the highest point), the ship has 22 decks towering a height of 60 metres.”

A long journey

At its meeting on October 26, 1949, the Defence Minister’s Committee on Navy cleared the concept of India having two light carriers, each carrying a fighter squadron of 16 aircraft. The standing committee of Parliament cleared it on November 13, 1950, after Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Governor-General of India Lord Mountbatten pushed for it.

INS Vikrant, India’s first aircraft carrier (UK acquired), was commissioned in 1961. It was followed by INS Viraat in May 1987. This changed the game, with Sea Harriers then being top-of-the-line jets. India operated two carriers from 1987 till January 1997, when INS Vikrant was retired. It will be almost after 16 years that New Delhi will have two carriers.

Vital statistics

• Displacement: 44,500 tonnes
• Length: 284 metres
• Width: 60 metres
• Speed: Over 30 knots (55 kmph)
• Crew: 1,600
• Equipment, crew compartments 2,500
• Month’s rations: 1 lakh eggs, 20,000 litres milk and 16 tonnes of rice
• Two reverse osmosis plants to convert 400 tonnes of seawater into fresh water daily
• Short takeoff but assisted recovering (STOBAR) carrier
• All-weather day-and-night flying supported with latest sensors; microwave landing system
• Fighters MiG 29K can fly in single fuelling for 1,300 km
• Will carry Zhuk-ME radar with longer detection range of air targets. Guided air-to-air missiles include medium-range missiles with active radar homing warheads and short-range attack missiles. Air-to-ship missiles for maritime targets destruction; separate missile for ground targets
• Helicopters: Kamov 31, Kamov 28, Seaking, ALH, Chetak.

Long sail

Dec 26, 1978: Keel laid at Chernomorsky Ship Building Enterprise, Nikolayev.

Dec 20, 1987: Commissioned into the Soviet fleet as a heavy cruiser carrying helicopters and capability of allowing vertical takeoff and landing Yak-38 fighters.

Nov 7, 1990: Ship renamed after Admiral Gorshkov.

1995: Offered to Indian Navy.

1996: De-commissioned from Russian navy.

Oct 4, 2000: India signs pact; had to pay for fighter jets and refitting. Cost around Rs 14,000 crore), 35 per cent of what it’s costing UK to produce HMS Queen Elizabeth.

2008: Delivery delayed.

2012: Glitch causes delay.

Nov 16, 2013: Handed over to India at Russia.

Jan 2014: Arrival in India.

In Asia, India ahead of the race

Aircraft carriers make it possible for fighter jets and helicopters to take off and land at sea.

India, Japan and China are vying for what strategic circles term as the ‘Asian aircraft carrier race’. As of now, India is the leader with 50 years of experience in operating sea-borne aircraft carriers while Japan, for the first time since World War II, is making flat-deck warships but doesn’t call them ‘aircraft carriers’. China is the newest entrant and is practicing ship-deck landings on its newly launched carrier.

For the Asian countries, these warships are like floating cities, a projection of prowess in controlling and dominating the sea lanes of communication — trade routes on high seas — vital to run their multi-billion dollar economies.

A race between India and China to secure resources like oil, minerals, natural gas and coal will be backed by keeping sea lanes open. The other dimension is the China-Japan rivalry in economic dominance in Asian countries. It is backed by a bitter history of wars and a pending territorial dispute in Senkaku islands, East China Sea.

China catching up

Just as India receives INS Vikramaditya, far away in the South China Sea, Beijing is readying its aircraft carrier, Liaoning. Purchased from Ukraine after the fall of the Soviet Union, it was launched at sea in September 2012, but is still a ‘work in progress’.

A US department of defence report says: “Liaoning will continue training with the aircraft during the next several years, but it is not expected to embark an operational air wing until 2015 or later.”

On its deck, the Liaoning will carry the twin-engine J-15 fighters, but with less than full load, meaning loss of efficacy in terms of flying range for the fighters and a depleted weapon carrying capacity. The J-15 carrier-based fighter is the Chinese version of the Russian Sukhoi-33, it says.

The report goes on to warn that China continues to pursue an indigenous aircraft carrier programme and is likely to build multiple aircraft carriers over the next decade.

For India, China’s intension to station the Liaoning in the disputed South China Sea — the only trade route between India and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) — will be vital. In December 2012, India and ASEAN finalised a free trade agreement (FTA) aimed at boosting trade to $ 100 billion by 2015 from the existing $ 80 billion.

Beijing has an added advantage. Its deep ties with Pakistan and Burma, besides supply bases in Sri Lanka, can be useful for deployment of Chinese carriers in the Indian Ocean, placing its navy in waters which form a core interest for New Delhi.

Japan rises

The third dimension is Japan that has just emerged from its self-imposed ban on owning aircraft carriers. Following the end of World War II and defeat of the Imperial Japan Navy, the Japanese Constitution in 1945 banned the making of aircraft carriers.

In August this year, Japan launched a 20,000-tonne flat-deck called Izumo for carrying 14 helicopters. Slated for commissioning in 2015, it is the largest Japanese warship since the World War. With a length of 248 metres, it looks like an aircraft carrier and can easily carry and operate the vertical takeoff F-35B stealth fighters being developed by the US.

The name ‘Izumo’ carries a bitter memory of the China-Japan rivalry. Izumo was the name of a Japanese cruiser that led a 1937 operation against Shanghai, leaving over 2.50 lakh persons dead. In 2009, Japan launched the ‘Ise’, and the same year it commissioned the first of these ships, a flat-deck Hyuga. Its navy now has quasi-carriers and once equipped with F-35 fighters, they will be full aircraft carriers.

The US, meanwhile, has its ‘super carriers’ of USS Nimitz class — each weighing over 1 lakh tonnes and nuclear powered — in Asian waters. President Barack Obama had announced in 2011 the rebalance of US naval assets that would entail stationing 60 per cent of its sea-going fleet in Asia-Pacific. The US terminology to describe Asia-Pacific includes India, China and Japan. US naval bases in Japan and the Philippines are homes to these carriers.

‘A force multiplier’

File photo of former Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta.

IN the past two decades, the world has looked at India’s military might differently as it has developed a potent naval force, says former Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta, during whose tenure cost negotiation was done. INS Vikramaditya will enhance capabilities at sea. MiG29-K, its on-deck fighter, will protect Indian assets at sea, he says.

“It will be a tremendous force multiplier. Aircraft carriers are designed to operate in distant waters making a power projection at high sea,” he says.

Regarding the obvious comparisons with China, he states: “It will take some more years for Beijing to fully and effectively operate its aircraft carrier Liaoning.” Hinting how tough it will be for China to cross over to the Indian Ocean, he says: “If they have to come, it will be through very restricted waters. But China could be a pain for us and would also challenge the US dominance in the South China Sea.”

INS Vikramaditya will last 25-30 years. India has also sea-launched the ingeniously built carrier INS Vikrant. “We need to have three carriers. It is essential. INS Viraat is going to retire [in 2018]”. India has gained this experience in 50 years and must build on it. Construction of the second indigenous carrier should commence soon.