India Targets Six-Carrier Naval Fleet, Says Defence Minister

[Justin TruDont]

My God 6 carrier fleet..... imagine what Indian navy would look like in Indian Ocean.....

However,

Sadly the architect of Indian Defense buildup ie Modi, Shah, will be long gone

And won't be able to see India take up it's place as a dominant player in Indian Ocean

Or as the Pakistani media says
Kithe ka Chaudhary banna

 

[CallSignMaverick]

Like I noted on Twitter: „It’s always healthy to start the day with a good laugh.“

Really … how long did India struggle to build the Vikrant? Now they have a too small aircraft carrier without a proper aircraft, have the problem to find a decent replacement for its MiG-29K and instead of making realistic, affordable plans, they dream of "will make five, six more" and even more with yet another Vikrant-sized one, speak of a „naval race“ with China … this is funny!

Vikrant was the first Indian aircraft carrier which we built on our own, CSL has expressed confidence that a repeat order will be executed in much lesser time. And 5-6 more obviously doesn't mean we'll be building them right now, it is a long term plan which might span for over next 25-30 years by the time India's economy would likely cross $30 trillion in nominal and maybe $100 trillion in PPP terms.

 

[CallSignMaverick]

Indian aircraft carriers rarely launch carrier based aircraft. Even Indian aircraft carriers do not have nighttime takeoff and landing capabilities

Yeah

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[Harbyharb]

TEDBF is in a bizarre position
Indian Navy has stated that they are interested on purchase of 45 TEDBF

If we are to field a 5 carrier force by say 2047, we will require 150 fighters atleast
Only in such a case will TEDBF make sense

For a fleet of 2-3 , 45000 Ton STOBAR Carriers a Fighter force of 56-64 Rafale Ms is more than enough

Another issue that’s worth mentioning is the hanger elevator dimensions.

Because France’s carrier CDG did not emphasize on capacity and sortie rate, to save engineering burden and reduce risks, Dassault designed the naval Rafale-M without folding wing mechanisms.

This is an issue since INS Vikramaditya’s tiny elevator can barely able to fit 9.41s, and the INS Vikrant somehow also decided to come up with a fairly restricted elevator dimension.

For India to equip its carriers with Rafale-M, there must first be the creation for a folding wing STOBAR variant.

 

[Deino]

….

For India to equip its carriers with Rafale-M, there must first be the creation for a folding wing STOBAR variant.

And exactly this won‘t happen unless India pays for this new variant … even more, even if India finally decides to purchase additional Rafales (of any variant), they won‘t be delivered before several years. Today, Dassault has an order backlog of a ten-year production run unless the rate will not be increased.

 

[Justin TruDont]

And exactly this won‘t happen unless India pays for this new variant … even more, even if India finally decides to purchase additional Rafales (of any variant), they won‘t be delivered before several years. Today, Dassault has an order backlog of a ten-year production run unless the rate will not be increased.

Combined IAF and Navy orders for Rafale will be 80 units at the low end
And could be as high as 171 units if all options are exercised

India will ask for domestic production .

Dassault already has a Facility in India in Nagpur , which currently assembles the Falcon Business Jet .

 

[Harbyharb]

And exactly this won‘t happen unless India pays for this new variant … even more, even if India finally decides to purchase additional Rafales (of any variant), they won‘t be delivered before several years. Today, Dassault has an order backlog of a ten-year production run unless the rate will not be increased.

I wonder if France would also have demand for this folding wing Rafale? A new variant thar contains both upgrades and folding mechanism for PANG that’s suited for 2030-40, surely they can’t be content with just the current model?

…nevermind. Who am I kidding, it’s the bloody frenchies, don’t answer that.

 

[Deino]

Combined IAF and Navy orders for Rafale will be 80 units at the low end
And could be as high as 171 units if all options are exercised

India will ask for domestic production .

Dassault already has a Facility in India in Nagpur , which currently assembles the Falcon Business Jet .

And then they will again mess it up by demanding Dassault to guarantee for the quality of made-in-India manufactured ones without getting access to the facility like for the last deal?

 

[Pingle]

However,

Sadly the architect of Indian Defense buildup ie Modi, Shah, will be long gone

And won't be able to see India take up it's place as a dominant player in Indian Ocean

Or as the Pakistani media says
Kithe ka Chaudhary banna

I agree that Indian defence plans always suffer due to delays in decision making and allocation of funds by government be it bjp, congress or anyone for that matter but Indian navy has always been considered as one of the most powerful force in IOR.....

It has managed to to get deals signed on time compared to army and air force..... but let's see...... maybe you will be right... just look at the laxity in procurement of submarines......

 

[Justin TruDont]

And then they will again mess it up by demanding Dassault to guarantee for the quality of made-in-India manufactured ones without getting access to the facility like for the last deal?

I recommend reading the complete post before sharing your wise opinion

Dassault already has a JV in India called
Reliance Dassault Aerospace Limited based out of Nagpur.

It is this company which will manufacture the Rafale in India.

However for Domestic production and TOT , Dassault has requested an order for 100 jets .

While India is willing to commit to a joint 80 aircraft order by IAF and Navy.
with an option clause for another 90 Rafales , if their is delay in Indian AMCA/TEDBF program

We will likely come to a solution, where Dassault which is already choked with orders from the west and middle east could divert some of their UAE aircraft order to be manufactured in India.

 

[MirageBlue]

Five or six more? Is that a grand total of ten?

There will also be retirements of the oldest carriers.

INS Vikramaditya will probably last another 15-20 years at most.

But it is good that the Govt of India is at least thinking along the lines of having a large fleet of carriers. Eventually their size will grow, EMALS will also be available and we'll see CATOBAR operations.

Already I saw some news report that the naval fighter TEDBF CATOBAR variant is being designed by ADA in parallel with the STOBAR variant.

I doubt that the third carrier will be CATOBAR, in fact it is most likely going to be a sister ship to INS Vikrant. But most likely, the fourth carrier will be.

 

[MirageBlue]

Vikrant was the first Indian aircraft carrier which we built on our own, CSL has expressed confidence that a repeat order will be executed in much lesser time. And 5-6 more obviously doesn't mean we'll be building them right now, it is a long term plan which might span for over next 25-30 years by the time India's economy would likely cross $30 trillion in nominal and maybe $100 trillion in PPP terms.

He can have his own opinion. It doesn't matter. In his world view only China is competent and the rest are all to be mocked.

Obviously what Rajnath Singh ji was referring to was a long term plan over 30 years to build more carriers. INS Vikrant was built indigenously but took longer than expected. The experience is now there. The next one will take far less time.

What some guy on an internet forum thinks is immaterial. His opinion is immaterial.

Technology doesn't stand still, nor is India's economy or it's standing in the world. As the third largest economy in the world by 2030, money will not be as much of an issue as will political will and actual engineering and project management skills.

 

[Justin TruDont]

In 2030
Indian economy will hit 7 Trillion USD
We will have a defence budget of atleast 150 billion USD by then
I am sure we will find a way to fund atleast 2 Carriers by then
Vishal could be sister ship to Vikrant
While Viraat could be an all new 75000 ton CATOBAR carrier with nuclear propulsion

 

[Justin TruDont]

Their is a inside joke that India names all its carriers starting with the letter V

INS Vikramaditya
INS Vikrant
INS Vishal
INS Viraat

For a 6 carrier fleet
Someone has to find 2 more names starting with the letter V

Any ideas

 

[CallSignMaverick]

Their is a inside joke that India names all its carriers starting with the letter V

INS Vikramaditya
INS Vikrant
INS Vishal
INS Viraat

For a 6 carrier fleet
Someone has to find 2 more names starting with the letter V

Any ideas

INS Vijayant
INS Vinash

etc


But I'm pretty sure the names will be recycled once we run out of names with V like Vikrant's name was recycled.