Photos via JeffHead Blog.
story via IDRW.org.
Indian Navy’s indigenously-built aircraft carrier would be launched on August 12 this year, while INS Vikramaditya (purchased from Russia) will arrive before the end of 2013, Union Defence Minister A K Antony said here on Saturday.Things are heating up big time between China and India...while we're watching China with suspicion so is India. Quite honestly the Chinese are caught between a rock and a hard place. They are surrounded by technologically capable enemies/frenemies and their arms build up might be viewed as a matter of survival...NOT aggression. Either way, India is showing that they're willing to keep pace and with the introduction of the former Russian carrier along with a home built model they will at the very least achieve parity soon. The pic below shows the "home built" carrier under construction.
“INS Vikramaditya is going to be a reality, as promised the ship would be delivered before the end of this year,” Antony told reporters after the commissioning of fighter aircraft MiG29K into Navy at INS Hansa here.
“While on one side Vikramaditya is coming this year, on August 12 we are going to launch indigenous aircraft carrier at Cochin,” he said, without elaborating further.
Asserting that the country was giving a thrust to modernisation of defence forces, Antony said, “Navy modernisation is one area where we are going fast-paced now.
“Almost all the navies of important countries want close cooperation with the Indian Navy,” he said, adding that “Indian Navy is well-prepared, most modern and (one of) the most capable navies of the world.
“(Over) Last many years, there has been well-planned induction wherein we are replacing old platforms and adding new ones,” he said.
Last but not least is another story from IDRW.org about MIG-29Ks.
Defence Minister AK Anthony will commission the multi-role MiG-29K carrier-borne fighter jets into the Indian Navy today. These MiGs will form the Black Panthers Squadron, which will be based at the INS Hansa. The aircrafts will be part of the carrier INS Vikramaditya, currently undergoing sea trials in Russia and expected to be inducted later this year. With this commissioning, the Indian Navy,which is celebrating the diamond jubilee of its aviation wing, will give itself cutting edge in force multiplier and projection. ‘K’ in the aircraft’s name stands for ‘Korabelny’ meaning ‘Carrier Borne’ in Russian.An F-18 sized fighter which is also truly multi-purpose will give Indian foes headaches. Personally I see it as a formidable anti-ship plane...especially if they equip it with some of the missiles I've watched India co-develop with the Russians. Quite honestly Pakistan is no longer a concern unless you're talking about nuclear warfare or terrorist attacks. India is aiming its armed forces at China.
The MIG-29K is a potent carrier borne fighter, which,once integrated with ‘INS Vikramaditya’ will bolster the Navy’s potency with its multi-role capability, navy officials told Herald.Herald got a preview of the aircraft armed with its
arsenal, including advanced anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles, bombs and sophisticated systems to support weapons delivery, that according to officials, will not only be able to dominate the air in all areas of conflict but also project power to meet the nation’s military objectives as well as enhance Indian Navy’s capability to exercise air
superiority in its area of influence.45 MIG-29K aircrafts have been ordered from Russia.
In April, the Defence Ministry approved the Long Term Integrated Perspective Plan(LTIPP) for 2012-27 as a way to ensure 24×7 intelligence,surveillance and reconnaissance capability in the Indian Ocean and planning for a deterrent presence of at least one carrier task force each on India’s western and eastern seafronts. This means an integrated network of ships,aircraft, submarines, UAVs,helicopters, satellites and ground facilities. The Navy will raise a second squadron of MIG-29Ks for the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-1) being built at Kochi. Herald took an exclusive
look at the aircraft and spoke to the pilots who briefed the reporter about the advanced fighter aircraft at INS Hansa.
Hopefully we could get India on our side to keep the Chinese down.
ReplyDeleteIndia wants to be NATO best friend...russian weapons are inferiour and India whants to have the upper hedge against China and Pakistan...no big deal...just bright them along
ReplyDeletei see it differently. India is acting independently. they just had a major border issue with the Chinese and they didn't run to the US, NATO or the UN. they took on China by themselves and worked out the issue. additionally the Indian people see China as a threat. if you take the time to read their forums you'll see that Pakistan is a distant second to the concern that the Indian people are voicing about China. as a matter of fact the only time Pakistan is mentioned is when it comes to nuclear weapons or terrorism. as far as who they buy from and why they buy it, i think you're seeing the same thing with India that you're seeing with S. Korea, Turkey, Singapore and Israel. they're going to protect their home industries and do everything they can to make them grow. if that means they buy what we might consider an inferior weapon but they get full producing or coproducing rights then that where they're going.
DeleteSo true...their Tejas fighter program is years behind schedule and they still protect it...they really want their own industry...
DeleteAnd the reason why the Rafale won the fighter competition as more to do with industrial offsets than combat performance/price...
China regulate population growth, and becomes worldwide industrial plant of the consumer products, so technically they are self sufficient and well integrated into a world economy.
ReplyDeleteIndia on the other side doing nothing about their own population growth, and since population growths exponentially soon we can expect bad harvest year in India and then famine, epidemic outbreaks and consequently riots(Population: 1.241 billion(!) (2011)), and government will try to solve this problems by any means possible -- i can't imagine more dangerous country.
not exactly a fair comparison. China is the world's industrial plant because of unfair trade practices, a communist government, greed on the part of capitalist countries (which if those countries, including the US, actually gave a damn about their citizens would be placing massive tariffs on Chinese goods) and an insane and perhaps one child policy that has seriously imbalanced that nations population.
Deletedeveloping countries, especially those that are democratic in nature, will experience uneven growth while they move towards being fully developed. Brazil is experiencing this and they're still a powerhouse even though they have areas of crushing poverty. India is the same.
countries like the US and Uk have bits of the same issues but its being masked by liberal immigration (that will come back to bite but no one wants to talk about declining birthrates due to unfettered abortion)...when this house of cards called globalization crashes, it'll be doom on everyones houses...including the USA, Europe, China and the BRIC countries.
Actually, birthrates plummet when 1. Birth control is essentially given away 2. When having children is practically DEMONIZED by certain elites and 3. When a woman has to choose between a career and a family, most western societies say take the career.
DeleteI like that Gorshkov one, looks like it means business. Makes you wonder why the Russkis don't convert more the same way. Didn't they build a bunch of those helo carriers?
ReplyDeletefrom what i understand Russia never built a helo carrier in the conventional sense (at least until now with the help of the French)...the stuff they had before was like a helo/cruiser mix.
DeleteRight like a heavy missile cruiser but also with a flight deck. But aren't there more Kiev class ships around? Seems like more of these conversions would be a cheaper way for Russia and China to get the aircraft carriers they want. Slightly off topic but I always wished that the Navy had gone ahead with the Iowa Class carrier conversion, but hey what do I know I just a mech grunt with a copy of harpoon...
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