The INS Viraat left refit a month ago and it’s Harriers are getting an upgrade-Anyway it’s primary purpose will be fleet escort and ASW work, not attaining air superiority against any navy-it’s a job it can do with helicopters backed by land based fighters.
Where did you get the number of phased air radar equipped Chinese ships as five???Most sources put them at 2.And if they were so good, why did the PLAN build two older escort vessels equipped with the Russian Rif and not Chinese HQ-9??? And there is no conclusive proof that the PLAN has AIP equipped subs other than fan boy websites. And your assertion that each of China’s fleets is better than the whole Indian navy-well how many ships does the PLAN have deployed in the Indian Ocean??? None, because they also have to take care of Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam and of course the US of A.
About Chinese bases in the IOR-there are NONE yet. Most Chinese “allies” in the region are a bunch of dirt poor states such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar which survive on Indian benevolence. The only real ally is Pakistan which is a failed state surviving on US and Saudi handouts.
Only a very small fraction of the chinese fleet is capable of being deployed to IOR
Any chinese attempt to enter IOR has to cross malacca straits
and then the Indian Andaman island bases and it is a several thousand mile journey
Next the entire Indian land mass is effectively a giant aircraft carrier, since most of the IOR is targetable by Indian land based missiles and planes
“The INS Viraat left refit a month ago and it’s Harriers are getting an upgrade-Anyway it’s primary purpose will be fleet escort and ASW work, not attaining air superiority against any navy-it’s a job it can do with helicopters backed by land based fighters.”
So bottom line, the carrier is from 1953, it’s old Harriers has maintenance issues due to lack of spare parts. I really don’t see this carrier as a significant factor, especially since the PLAN has deployed satellite-guided carrier killers:
http://www.military.com/news/article/April-2009/new-concerns-over-chinese-carrier-killer.html
Without fleet-wide air defense, the Viraat would be sunk within the first hour of a shooting war.
“Where did you get the number of phased air radar equipped Chinese ships as five???Most sources put them at 2.And if they were so good, why did the PLAN build two older escort vessels equipped with the Russian Rif and not Chinese HQ-9??? “
It’s actually 4 fleet air defense ships deployed: 2 type 051Cs(with Russian Phase array radars) and 2 type 052Cs (with Indigenous Phase array radars). With supposedly a third 052C under construction.
http://www.sinodefence.com/navy/vessel.asp
“And there is no conclusive proof that the PLAN has AIP equipped subs other than fan boy websites.”
They apparently have 6 AIP equipped Kilos and 4 AIP equipped Yuans according to all the public sources.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_041_submarine
http://www.strategypage.com/fyeo/howtomakewar/databases/submarine_database/submarines.asp
http://www.sinodefence.com/navy/sub/yuan.asp
“And your assertion that each of China’s fleets is better than the whole Indian navy-well how many ships does the PLAN have deployed in the Indian Ocean??? None, because they also have to take care of Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam and of course the US of A.”
I’m just stating the obvious. On a qualitative level, each of the 3 Chinese fleets are minimally equipped with a set of technologies and deployed capabilities that the entire Indian Navy does not currently possess. These are the following as I see them:
1. Nuclear and AIP Submarines
2. Fleet wide air defense ships
3. Long range LACMs and Satellite guided TBM/MRBMs
4. AWACs
5. Space-based targeting/guidance/early-warning assets
On top of the technological advantages, there is also the numerical advantage. The PLAN simply outnumbers the IN 3 to 1 in most categories.