The following article is from the armored bear, the author’s fire
India’s first domestic aircraft carrier vikrand has finally entered service!
Oh, I see – this is my first feeling after hearing the news. The reason why we talk about it alone is that, after all, precious traffic was wasted for the domestic aircraft carrier of India. Now this once very topical aircraft carrier has finally been put into service. Just talk about it briefly.
The reason why I say this is mainly because India’s domestic aircraft carriers did not treat people lightly in those days.
As early as 2004, when the design of India’s domestic aircraft carrier was basically completed, then Indian defense minister fernander announced that the aircraft carrier could displace 35000 tons and would be put into service in 2011.
In 2005, India announced that the construction of its domestic aircraft carrier had officially started. At that time, it said that the new aircraft carrier would be put into service in 2012, which was slightly conservative than the previous year.
In the same year, it was also commented that if all goes well, India will have three aircraft carrier strike brigades at the same time by 2012, becoming the country with the largest number of aircraft carriers in Asia.
In 2006, India again hyped its domestic aircraft carrier and ship building plans. While stressing that the new aircraft carrier will be put into service before 2012, he also envisioned a super fleet blueprint with “three aircraft carriers and 200 warships”, and said that the Indian Navy would be the largest in Asia at that time.
Let’s think about it. At that time, India was so big and special, and its formation was really not small.
In addition, India is also the first country in Asia to operate aircraft carriers after World War II. As early as 1961, it was listed in the first generation of vikrand aircraft carrier and has rich experience in using aircraft carriers.
In the 2000s, when India’s domestic aircraft carriers showed their ambitions, the Indian Navy also had the aircraft carrier “virant” in service, and also “got” an aircraft carrier from Russia. Within the expected time limit, the Indian Navy’s aircraft carrier strategy is indeed something.
Therefore, there were many people blow printing in those years, but they at least had some basis.
But I didn’t expect to give you a chance. You’re useless!
The aircraft carrier that India almost “got for nothing” from Russia was a super giant pit. After that, it spent a lot of money, and it was several years late for it to be officially put into service. It was not officially delivered until the end of 2013.
At that time, the aircraft carrier “willant” was getting old. By 2016, it had been substantially retired, and a formal retirement ceremony was held the following year.
What about India’s first domestic aircraft carrier?
As early as 2005, it held a ceremony of cutting steel plates, but it has not made substantive progress due to a series of problems including special steel. It was not until 2009 that the keel of India’s domestic aircraft carrier was officially laid.
However, in this progress, India’s domestic aircraft carrier was launched on November 29, 2011!
At that time, everyone was quite shocked by this news. Can it be said that Indian ships can still make such a leap? As a result, the subsequent news came, which was just a false alarm. It turned out that the progress of the aircraft carrier was delayed and made way for other ships.
Later, on August 12, 2013, India’s domestic aircraft carrier was launched for the second time, but the completion rate was still not high, which was only symbolic.
It was not until May 28, 2015 that India’s domestic aircraft carrier was launched for the third time that it looked like something, but that was all.
As India’s domestic aircraft carriers rely heavily on foreign core equipment in the construction process, and these equipment are not always smooth when they are introduced, the progress of their aircraft carriers is seriously lagging behind.
At the same time, India also wants to try its best to improve the localization rate of the new aircraft carrier. In the process of construction, it constantly modifies the design indicators. In addition, a series of problems in the compatibility of various systems and financial problems make the situation of India’s domestic aircraft carrier continuous and slow even after it is officially launched.
Against this background, India’s domestic aircraft carrier service plan can only be delayed. New news comes every month and year, but in the end, it is just a fantasy.
In the 2010s, there were at least dozens of reports that India’s domestic aircraft carriers had made significant progress or would be put into service. But in the end, we obviously did not see the service of this aircraft carrier in the whole 2010s.
In the past 10 years, great changes have taken place, and the development of the Indian Navy can no longer arouse people’s interest.
When the former “blue sky Guardian” turned into the second-generation “viklant”, after 17 years of stumbling construction and trial voyage, it was finally put into service in September 2022.
But as you can see, this kind of event, which was able to stir the whole network 10 years ago, is now just a sprinkling of water, and that’s what it is. Of course, for India, this is an absolute big deal.
Naturally, the construction process of the aircraft carrier is not achieved in one move, and the 17 year period can definitely be said to be “slow work, big work”.
To be fair, with India’s national strength and technical strength, it is definitely not easy to build this aircraft carrier even after 17 years, and it is indeed worth looking up at.
After all, with this aircraft carrier, the Indian Navy will indeed form a dual aircraft carrier pattern at the practical level.
In addition, in the process of aircraft carrier construction, it will lead to the progress of the whole system, train talents, promote industrial progress, enhance ship building strength, and greatly enhance India’s national self-confidence – all these are objective.
However, while recognizing the above conclusions, we should rationally evaluate the gold content of India’s domestic aircraft carriers.
Although the aircraft carrier of India claims to have a localization rate of 76%, most of this proportion is in the main steel and secondary systems.
In terms of the core system of the aircraft carrier, India actually combines the equipment and weapons of “the United States, Russia, Europe and Israel” and its own work is to “stitch up” these.
Therefore, the current aircraft carrier viklant is actually a stitching monster.
According to Indian data, this aircraft carrier has a displacement of more than 40000 tons. It was originally planned to carry 30 fighters of various types, including 12 MIG 29K fighters, 8 LCA carrier based aircraft and 10 helicopters.
The MIG 29K is very easy to understand. After all, the Indian army used this fighter in the previous Superman, and at the beginning of the design of the vikrand, it was also designed according to the standard of operating the MIG 29K.
However, the service history of the MIG 29K in the Indian Navy is not smooth, not to mention that its technical performance is difficult to meet the needs of modern warfare, that is, its reliability and mobilization rate make India the leader.
Now, several MIG 29ks of two squadrons of the Indian Navy have crashed, and it is difficult to ensure the status of other fighter planes, falling into a strange circle of “nothing if you don’t move out, and you may hang up when you go to sea”.
Therefore, it is really hard to talk about the combat power of the aircraft carrier chaoriwang now, because the combat power of the aircraft carrier is realized by the attack of carrier based aircraft. The Indian Navy is very dissatisfied with the way the MIG 29K is pulled, and wants to start a new business and choose a new aircraft.
However, at present, there are few countries with aircraft carriers in the world, and there are not many types of carrier based aircraft available.
First of all, don’t mention the things in India’s own home. It’s definitely beyond our expectation. The Indian Navy doesn’t want them. At present, the main choice is between French rafale-m and American f / A-18E / F.
However, India’s arms procurement process is complex, and the viklant aircraft carrier was not designed considering the application of these two fighters, so it is difficult for the ship in practice.
Therefore, the viklant can only make do with MIG 29K at this stage.
At the same time, many core components of India’s domestic aircraft carrier had not been installed until it was officially put into service on September 2, which can be said to be “forced service”.
Therefore, although Vikram has been in service, it is still far from forming combat effectiveness.
Moreover, because the systems integrated on this aircraft carrier are really complex, and India is building a warship of this size for the first time, it is likely that there are some hidden problems that will affect the generation of the warship’s combat effectiveness. This can be seen from a series of problems that occurred during the trial voyage of India’s domestic aircraft carrier.
Therefore, at least in the next year, it would be good for the ship to find out its own problems first and try to debug without accidents.
Of course, in the end, in order to guard against the bar, let’s say something first: don’t underestimate India, don’t despise others, after all, aircraft carriers are made, and it’s really not easy.