India held the inauguration ceremony of its first domestically produced aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, at Cochin Shipyard on September 2, 2022, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a speech stressing that Vikrant is not just a warship, but a testament to India's hard work, talent, influence and commitment in the 21st century, a unique embodiment of India's self-reliance, a shining symbol of an ambitious and self-reliant 'new India'. It is a symbol of national pride, strength and determination, proving that India is fully capable of meeting the collective security needs of the region. The excitement was beyond words. However, even though the ship is already in service, it is still a semi-finished product, and its main radar, anti-aircraft missiles and carrier-based aircraft are still missing.
The ship is 262.5 meters long, 61.6 meters wide, has a displacement of 42,800 tons, has a full staff of about 1,645 people, has 2,200 compartments inside, including a cabin dedicated to female officers/sailors, has a hospital equipped with the latest medical equipment and facilities, including a 16-bed ward, as well as two operating rooms and intensive care units, with laboratories, CT scanners, X-ray machines, dental, telemedicine facilities, etc. The ship uses four LM2500+ gas turbines, which have a single power of 30,000 kilowatts, a maximum speed of 28 knots, a cruising speed of 18 knots, and an endurance of about 7,500 nautical miles.
The flight deck area of the aircraft carrier Vikrant is 12,500 square meters, and the service ceremony has been sprayed with anti-slip coating, marking the inclined landing deck area, parking area, and take-off runway. The ship has 6 helicopter take-off and landing points, 3 blocking cables, two starboard elevators, fixed-wing aircraft using a 14-degree ski jump deck to block the ship, there is a 203-meter heavy-duty take-off long runway, usually used is the left 145-meter short runway, will occupy the landing area, but these two runways do not have flame shields, fortunately directly to the port side, not afraid of affecting other aircraft. The landing runway is 191 meters long. It can carry about 30 carrier-based aircraft, including MiG-29K carrier-based fighters, Ka-31 early warning helicopters, MH-60R multi-purpose helicopters and Indian-made light helicopters, etc., with a total of twelve temporary parking spots for carrier-based aircraft, which can support 15 carrier-based aircraft to operate at the same time.
To be sure, the Indian Vikrant aircraft carrier does reflect the strength of India's shipbuilding industry. If you don't compare China, from the perspective of the world, there are very few countries that can build aircraft carriers, and there are only three Us, Britain, and China with more than 50,000 tons, and Russia can only take the old Soviet goods to change and change, and then build another one that has no ability at all, after all, people now build frigates with 4,000 tons. Therefore, it makes sense for India to crush Russia in this regard, which is the strength of the number 2 in developing countries.
This is still the same thing
However, there are still three major problems in the Vikrant, which are not solved, and it is only an empty phrase to form combat effectiveness. First of all, the ship is also short of EL/M-2248MF-STAR digital active phased array radar of the Israeli Elta company, its antenna includes 4 S-band frequency active arrays, which can track hundreds of targets simultaneously at a very fast refresh rate, its frigate version has a maximum detection distance of more than 450 kilometers, the tracking distance of the sea-skimming attack missile is greater than 25 kilometers, and the automatic tracking distance of the high-altitude fighter is greater than 250 kilometers, the azimuth angle is 360 °, and the elevation angle coverage is -20° to +85 °, Antenna size 3x3 meters. Such a strong performance can not be used, it will definitely affect the performance of the aircraft carrier, the process of installation and integration must be long to die, and the electromagnetic compatibility must be measured, so the Vikrant can only rely on the Leonardo RAN-40L coordinate radar behind it.
The second major problem was whether the ship's Barak-8 was deficient. The Indians stuffed 2 groups of 32 vertical barak-8 anti-aircraft missiles in one go, originally intended to add a layer of insurance to the aircraft carrier, but they did not expect that they were covered by steel plates until now. The Barak-8 can intercept anti-ship missiles, cruise missiles, fighter jets, helicopters and unmanned aerial systems, etc., the missile is about 4.55 meters long, the bullet diameter is 0.277 meters, the launch mass is about 280 kg, the flight speed is Mach 2, the range is 70 kilometers, but the final speed is extremely slow, and it is impossible to stop supersonic anti-ship missiles. This missile also needs EL/M-2248 to provide target instructions, I don't know what problems have occurred between India and Israel, is it that India is too expensive?
The third major problem is the lack of carrier-based aircraft, which is also the most fundamental flaw. After all, there is no radar and spare, no missiles can still rely on escort ships, no carrier-based aircraft? On the day of the ceremony, there was only one MiG-29K fighter, a Ka-31 early warning helicopter, a Polaris helicopter on the Victor, and all of them were old goods on the Super Sun King, after all, the carrier-based aircraft for Vikrant was still in the bidding, and at present, rafales and F-18E/F are desperately fighting, and the LCA Navy does not consider it at all. However, there is still a big restriction here, that is, the size of its lift, according to the Indians said that it is 10 meters wide, 14 meters long, this size put the outer wing segment folded after the wingspan of 7.8 meters MiG-29K is not a problem at all, but the gust of wind and F-18E/F is tragic, F-18E/F Outer Wing Segment folding width of 9.93 meters, it seems to be able to tuck in, but there is a prominent circle in the hangar door, think about the past door is not, maybe the side placement of netizens can have some effect? Rafale M simply did not design folding wings, the wingspan of 10.9 meters, the French are more absolute, simply tell the Indians to get you a removable wing tip, you just need to dismantle it every time, but this is not a thing! Speaking of which, you have to count on the MiG-29K/KUB in your hands. But the MiG-29Ks of the 300th and 303rd Squadrons of the Hanseatic Naval Air Station in Goa, India, may now be 40, and they are still malfunctioning, and the available aircraft are too difficult to fill the hangars of the two aircraft carriers!
It can be seen that due to the existence of these three major defects, India's aircraft carrier is far from complete, as for the Indians said that the initial combat capability in 2023 is a joke to listen to, this cargo can be complete before our 003 service is thankful. The biggest suspense now is whether India's self-made aircraft carrier can fight with the British aircraft carrier in terms of failure rate, and the author has been looking forward to the day when the mystery is revealed.
It's embarrassing to look at the details in a lot of photos