Welcome back to India Defence Online...If you haven't done so yet, subscribe to the RSS feed as it will save you a lot of time. Thanks for following the site!
The Indian Navy will be confronting an odd situation due to its lack of long-term planning and the constant delays in acquisitions and refurbishment to strengthen its capabilities.
Apparently, the Indian Navy will soon induct the maritime fighters MiG-29 K but it will have no aircraft carrier to operate them from. The INS ‘Vikramaditya’, from which the MiG-29 K’s will be operated from, will only be ready by 2013. INS ‘Vikramaditya’ is the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov which is being refurbished at the Russian shipyard.
Defence Ministry sources revealed that the first four of the 16 MiG-29Ks contracted along with the refurbishment of the Admiral Gorshkov will arrive in India in the by end of November. However, Indian Navy will have no aircraft carrier to operate them from.
The Indian Navy has the INS ‘Viraat’ which has been recently furbished but it cannot operate the MiG-29 K from it since they are conventional fighters with no V/STOL (vertical and/or short take-off and landing) capabilities. MiG-29Ks will land on INS ‘Vikramaditya’ with the help of arrestor wires in STOBAR (short take-off but arrested recovery) configuration.
The Indian Navy’s sole aircraft carrier INS ‘Viraat’ is also going to confront a peculiar situation although it has been recently refurbished with upgraded weapons and sensors and other refits. INS ‘Viraat’ is running out of fighters that can operate from its deck. The 28,000-tonne INS ‘Viraat’ is left with only 11 of its Sea Harrier jump-jets which were acquired from Britain. The Sea Harrier jump jets take off from the angled ski-jump on INS ‘Viraat’ but land vertically on its deck.
The current dilemma is bound to stifle the operations and capabilities of the Indian Navy since on the one hand, it has maritime fighter planes that will have no aircraft carrier to operate them from and on the other hand, a newly refurbished aircraft carrier with declining number of jets which can operate from the carrier.
Indian Navy officials indicated that the pilots of the MiG-29 K squadron have been comprehensively trained in carrier operations in the US and also in Russia. The MiG-29 Ks are the maritime version of the MiG-29s capable of performing multi-role functions of providing air defence cover to warships and also take part in a combat situation. It can also perform air space domination roles by taking on air to ground targets.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
