Posted on 11/29/2023 5:58:44 PM PST by Cronos
India will build a second indigenous aircraft carrier in a $5 billion purchase to enhance its sea power and counter China's growing presence in its neighborhood.
It would be India's third carrier, alongside the Russian-built INS Vikramaditya and the INS Vikrant, the first variant to be made at home.
The slated addition to the Indian Navy's maritime capability will be crucial to New Delhi's search for greater influence in regional and international waters amid a shifting global power balance and rising tensions around territorial disputes in the Indo-Pacific region.
The new carrier is projected to hold at least 28 fighter jets and helicopters and displace 45,000 tons of water. The Vikrant also displaces 45,000 tons.
The carrier is to be equipped with French-made Rafale jets, a decision reflecting India's ongoing military modernization and partial phasing out of older Soviet- and Russia-made hardware.
Shekhar Sinha, a former vice admiral in India's navy, said New Delhi's investment will help protect the country's vast economic interests in the region and counter any challenges from a regional adversary.
"We are only interested in protecting our economic interests and the security of our sea lanes of communication," Sinha told Newsweek, "Anyone who becomes an adversary by declaring some kind of offensive action against our people, including the army, navy or air force—we should be able to respond."
But the Chinese also have a desire to keep India in its own place while they are on their way to take on the U.S. Navy. That appears to be the intention, though officially they don't say that," Sinha said.
...As of 2023, India had 132 warships, 143 planes and 130 helicopters. The Indian Navy is planning to boost its hull count to 175 ships in the near future, according to India's Deccan Herald, an English-language newspaper.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
The Paper, a news website run by a state media group in Shanghai, described the Indian carrier as an "incomplete" platform because it had yet to launch or recover any fighter aircraft.
Interesting that the article suggests that India has almost as many “war ships” as it does aircraft. I imagine that those war ships are mostly small, coastal patrol craft.
Anything that keeps the Chinese worried is a plus.
Another enemy, arming themselves, likely with lots of stolen intellectual knowledge from the United States
Is it still possible to defend a carrier?
India is not an ally or an enemy of the United States.
They have been pretty diligent in maintaining distance from foreign powers since independence.
They were friendly with the Soviets and now Russians but are careful not to become a vassal of any nation.
If you mean an enemy with China that would be a little closer to reality, if that’s what you meant.
Exactly so...
My guess: no. It sounds more like a prestige flex than something with a real warfighting advantage. I would think those rupees would be better spent on submarines and missiles / anti-missiles. But I’m no admiral, just an opinion.
Good for India. Hopefully the urgency created by China’s impending expansion will hasten India’s glacial procurement process.
India is our enemy. They’ve invaded our country with tons of millions of Indians, they have stolen our intellectual property, our jobs, they do not support us internationally, given the circumstances, I suspect they would kill us just as much as they would, Chinese or their tribal enemies. Besides, they’re one of the worst cesspool countries, culture, etc. in the world.
A $5billion ship that can be taken out with less than $1million of smart bombs
A serious military decision would spend the money on artillery and drones.
(land based artillery is 60-80 percent of ALL casualties in a peer war. That is, land based artillery is bigger than all other weapons systems combined.)
For the U.S. at least, yes, absolutely. First line of defense is to use fifth and sixth generation stealth strike capabilities to destroy enemy missile launchers before they can threaten the carrier strike group. Second line of defense is to develop additional weapons systems with either the range, or stealth (or both) to strike an enemy from beyond the range of their anti-ship weapons, permitting the carrier to remain out of range. We’re well along the way toward developing a number of such weapons. Third line of defense is the awesome and little understood capacity of the strike group’s guided missile destroyers and cruisers to repel virtually anything launched at them, even hypersonic missiles and missile swarms. Some are even equipped to destroy ballistic missiles in space and satellites in low-Earth orbit. And finally, should any weapon survive all of that, it would be obliterated by close-in Phalanx and rolling airframe missile defenses.
And in a real war, all of these things would be happening simultaneously. The strike group wouldn’t just be sitting back trying to swat flies, they would also be penetrating enemy airspace to destroy the launchers, with F-35s, B-21s, and palletized swarms of LRAASM missiles (Rapid Dragon) among the possible systems deployed.
Now, as for India vs. China? Umm…best of luck to them, but I hope in a major conflict that they could at least distract China enough to make it easier for the big dogs to do the real damage.
Does India’s Russian built ship have to be towed around by tugs and belch black smoke?
Actually, the Indian Navy has close to triple the power of the Royal Navy.
“ Long border between Indo and China IIRC“
Revelation 9;
17 The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur.
18 A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths.
19 The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.
No. It actually seems a lot better. The Indians rebuilt 8t with Israeli and other support
The Indian NAVY has almost as many “war ships” as it does aircraft. Many are blue water
Thank you for the detailed answer. Sounds like huge amount of resources to protect one platform. Worth it?
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