Indian Navy's First Indigenous Aircraft Carrier Vikrant Catching Up To China
by HI Sutton
The Indian Navy’s first indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, is expected
to start sea trials soon. She will be India’s second aircraft carrier joining
the Russian built INS Vikramaditya. When she joins the fleet she will be a key
component to India’s ability to face China’s growing naval capabilities.
The Indian Navy has a strong tradition of carrier aviation. It has operated
fixed-wing aircraft carriers continuously since 1957, surpassed only by France
the US. Yet the new carrier represents a step forward, both for the navy and
for indigenous industry.
The Chinese Navy on the other hand started operating carriers just under 10
years ago. We should not underestimate the lessons learned during this time,
but China is still some years away from realizing its full carrier potential.
However with at least three large carriers in service or under construction,
it is a question of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’. Their third carrier, which is
under construction in Shanghai, will be comparable in size to the US Navy’s
Ford Class super-carriers.
Recent satellite data spots the #IndianNavy Indigenous Aircraft Carrier INS VIKRANT moving from its berth to new position as of May 2020, rumours suggest the movement took place using her own power indicating possible progress on the carrier's development #India pic.twitter.com/9gV2nUukVM
— d-atis☠️ (@detresfa_) May 28, 2020
At 45,000 tons the Vikrant will be around 67% the size of China’s existing
aircraft carriers, which displace around 65,000 tons. But her compact
dimensions belie capabilities which are overall quite comparable to China’s
first two carriers, the Liaoning (CV-16) and Shandong. And her deck area is
around 85% of the size.
Like the Chinese ships, Vikrant’s construction has been followed closely by
OSINT (Open Source intelligence) analysts
Although the construction of the Indian and Chinese ships overlaps, in many
respects the Indian carrier is a generation newer in design. Design of Vikrant
started in 1999 while the Chinese ships are rooted in 1970s Soviet technology.
Vikrant was launched in August 2013 and has been fitting out in Kochi since
then.
The Chinese ships however are essentially Soviet designed Admiral Kuznetsov
class ships. Liaoning in fact was laid down in 1985 and only sold to China,
ostensibly for scrap, in 1998. She entered service in 2012. Shandong was built
to the same overall design (with some modifications) and entered service in
2019.
The differences are most telling under the deck however. The Chinese ships use
traditional steam turbines while Vikrant uses a more modern gas turbine
arrangement.
Both Liaoning and Shandong are already operational however. While China’s
experience in aircraft carrier operations is much younger than India’s, it is
now more than 8 years since Liaoning was commissioned. She is currently
exercising off Qingdao in the Yellow Sea.
Air Wings
The Chinese carrier’s main combat aircraft is the Shenyang J-15 Flanker-D, a
reverse-engineered copy of the Sukhoi Su-33. Like other Chinese Flanker
derivatives the J-15 is equipped with a range of Chinese air-air missiles
including the PL-12 beyond visual range missile. They can also carry anti-ship
missiles and land-attack missiles.
The Flanker is a large aircraft however. India has opted for the mid-sized
MiG-29K Fulcrum two-seat carrier-borne fighter instead. Consequently, despite
the size difference, the vessels have a similar air wing size.
The Indian Navy is looking at a more modern fighter to replace the Fulcrums.
The main contender is the Hal TEDBF (Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter). This
compact canard design is hoped to fly in 5 years time. In the meantime the
Indian Navy may order a smaller number of interim carrier fighters with the
Boeing Super Hornet and Dassault Rafale as talked about contenders.
Both the country’s carriers are expected to have organic airborne early
warning (AEW) capabilities. The Indian Navy via the Ka-31 Helix helicopter and
the Chinese with the Z-18J helicopter. Helicopter based early warning may
greatly increase air defence and situational awareness of the respective
carrier battle groups but it is inherently more limited than fixed-wing types.
China has developed a fixed wing AEW plane, the Xi’an KJ-600. This is closely
analogous to the carrier-borne E-2D Hawkeye in American and, soon, French Navy
service. However it is not expected to serve aboard Liaoning or Shandong
because they lack the catapult launch system. China’s third carrier is
expected to have catapults for this aircraft however.
The third carrier, which is known to be larger than the Liaoning and Shandong,
is likely to bring in new naval fighters too. China is capable of developing 5
generation aircraft so it may only be a matter of time before the J-15ds are
replaced. It is likely that the new type would also be carried by the first
two carriers.
Outlook
More countries are operating large aircraft carriers today than in the past
with the biggest growth in Asia. Increasingly capable smaller carriers,
similar to India’s previous ones, are cropping up. New operators will include
Japan and South Korea. Flying F-35s these will be very potent. And France and
the United Kingdom are both pivoting their carrier operations towards Asia.
India will mostly be eying China’s growing naval might however. It is unlikely
that India will ever operate more carriers than China going forward, those
days have passed. But with two carriers the gap will be manageable. Especially
as China is unlikely to commit all its carriers to the Indian Ocean in the
event of a conflict. With investment in aircraft, India can maintain a strong
position in the carrier game.
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