By Milind Kulshreshtha
The initial need of an Aircraft carrier by a Naval force is attributed to the innovative role of spotting duties by an aircraft for gunnery purposes, upon the advent of enhanced gun technology for engaging beyond the horizon targets. Rapidly, the role of the sea launched aircrafts evolved as a tactical naval arm, with these aircrafts developed uniquely for complex air warfare role in a sea battle.
Incidentally, the first ever aircraft carrier USS Langley (a converted collier) joined the US Navy exactly a century back in 1922. Further, by the end of 1922 itself, a Japanese carrier ‘Hosyo’ became the first carrier designed to keel up. The carrier based Naval air warfare has well evolved in the last hundred years and is an integral part of any developed nation’s Navy.
During World War II, the carriers were involved in several serious battles, with the Pearl Harbour attack by the Japanese Navy in 1941 being the first ever such outbreak. Throughout WWII, the aircraft carriers played a critical role in the sea battles in the Pacific theatre itself (Midway Island, Coral Sea).
The success and capabilities of aircraft carriers gained large favours from Naval tacticians and in 1960, the first nuclear-powered carrier USS Enterprise was launched, making the global reach of the massive warfighting vessels limitless.
Also Read: State of art IAC Vikrant to set powerful precedent for self-reliance in defence
Indian Naval Aviation
Indian Navy’s Air Arm came into existence as part of the post-independence sea defence plan of India and included two light aircraft carriers for supporting the Western and Eastern naval fleets. These two light fleet carriers were to be gradually replaced with four fleet carriers in due course. It was in 1950 that the Naval Air Arm was formally formed by the Standing Committee for Parliament.
India inducted the first aircraft carrier in 1961 i.e. ex-UK Hercules carrier (Majestic Class) and the warship served for 36 long years under the Indian ensign before being decommissioned in 1997. Next Aircraft carrier Viraat (ex-Hermes) was commissioned in 1987 and she went on to serve for next 33 years before being decommissioned in 2017.
The 44,500 tonne INS Vikramaditya (ex-Gorshkov) was commissioned in 2013 and today continues to be in service as the sole carrier with the Navy. Despite the milestone of the commissioning now, Vikrant may take more than a year to be fighting fit with the potent air power fully operational for a naval combat. With a long refit and repair cycle, India may do well with three operational aircraft carriers at any given time, allowing one carrier to be made available for maintenance.
India shall continue to have crucial interests around the world, especially in the Indo-Pacific hotspot. An Aircraft Carrier plays an important role for every major seafaring power and this mobile air platform shall assist the forward deployed Naval expeditionary forces in projecting India’s influence and military capabilities.
In any modern warfare, India must possess an air superiority using fighter jets for attack and counter-air operations. A robust Carrier Battle Group provides India a floating base off foreign shores, with capability to launch fighter jets with key air attack competence.
The deck launched fighter jets extends this capability to any region in the world as access to contiguous air bases is never certain while away from the mainland, thereby making sea-based air power an essential entity in future conflicts, especially while holding down the adversary farther away from the homeland.
The need for greater long-range and long-endurance ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance) capabilities is to be persistent exploiting a mix of sensors, electro-optical, radar and other SIGINT (signals intelligence), COMINT (communications intelligence) and ELINT (electronics intelligence) with fast paced information dissemination through Tactical Data Links and combat Processor machines to bring jointness in a fleet with Vikrant as the Flagship.
As part of the Naval Air Tactics, Indian Navy shall be coordinating between strike and anti-air operations, with deck launched aircraft configurations being accordingly altered onboard. The ISR UAVs and combat UAVs (like UCAVs) gradually taking more air operations responsibility within the near future.
Largest of all Defence Indigenisation – Homegrown Aircraft Carrier Project
With the future doctrines of war in mind, the Indian Navy embarked on an ambitious initiative at the start of this century for design and construction of an indigenous aircraft carrier which would go on to cost approx. USD 2.5 billion, with 80 to 85 percent of this amount ploughed back into the Indian industry.
This initiative was well supported by academia along with various national and international shipbuilding institutions. Vikrant is 262m long and about 60m tall. The ship design methodology involved a ‘modular’ shipbuilding paradigm, a unique and bold first-time feat in itself.
The extensive and tiresome work of defining the requirements onboard was carried out meticulously by the Indian Navy for the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC), as the ship project was popularly called before being rechristened to Vikrant in modern times.
The debates raged from planning the engine fit to electronics and weapons for a war machine which was scheduled to float a decade later. This included looking at the feasibility of the ship fit equipment, navigation and weapons while the shipbuilding dock was still under construction. Even the consideration of maintenance routines on underwater valves which would impact the drydocking cycle of the huge vessel was well planned.
A query on specification of electronics like even GPS (Global Positioning System) for the ship construction purposes in the very early stages usually resulted in eyeballs rolling in response as technology prediction for such a long term project was a major enigma in a fast paced technology world of early 2000 era (for reference, the first iPhone which integrated a telephone, music player , digital camera and computing technologies only came on the horizon by 2007).
Cochin Shipyard (CSL) was given the primary responsibility and more than two thousand personnel were at one stage involved in a methodical and painstakingly long process of shipbuilding, with support from about thirteen thousand ancillary industries.
The fact that about forty thousand resources were deployed to indirectly support the ship building effort indicates the technological challenge in building an aircraft carrier. Overall, the end result culminated into a massive aircraft carrier consuming 23,000 tonnes of steel, two thousand valves, two thousand five hundred kilometer of electric cables crisscrossing the ship and 150 km of pipes.
The sourcing of steel within India was not a smooth affair, but finally supplied by SAIL with support from Defence Research & Development Lab. A mammoth of a warship like an aircraft carrier sucked in efforts from multiple agencies like BEL, L&T, BHEL, GRSE, Kirloskar, Wartsila and about hundred MSMEs.
The ship is a modern engineering marvel. The Control Centers of Vikrant is situated in the superstructure, called the ‘island’, at one side of the flight deck. The aircraft launch and landings are guided by instruments, radio and radar as part of the Flight Controller bay, while the ship’s Bridge is responsible for the navigation duties.
To support the main air power assets, a 12,500 sqm of flight deck has been designed to operate twelve fighter aircrafts and six helicopters at once. However, this large flat top area becomes a morning physical training zone for hundreds of off-duty crew members.
The aircraft carrier has 2,200 compartments and this makes it imperative for a new member onboard to spend the first few weeks learning to trace his route from the bunk to the mess without making a wrong turn. At various vantage points, the directional maps are made available in the passageways to assist in finding the direction.
There is usually a very less likelihood to get to see all compartments during their appointment on the ship. The gas turbine propulsion makes the Engine Room and Machineries Compartment very different from large boilers and steam turbine edifices of the previous steam propelled carriers.
The three galleys onboard have been outfitted to serve meals to six hundred sea crew at any given time, thus keeping the 1700 crew members well motivated throughout the operational deployments. A sixteen-bed hospital onboard is not only to provide medical aid to the ship’s crew but also to cater to sick from other fleet ships and support any humanitarian disaster management effort.
Also Read: Induction, reincarnation of ‘Vikrant,’ a humble tribute to sacrifices made by freedom fighters: Navy Kochi
Conclusion
India’s first aircraft carrier INS Vikrant was a major symbol of Indian prestige and was a key in several military successes especially the 1971 war and gloriously served for twenty-six years. The indigenously constructed reincarnation of Vikrant shall be the trendsetter for the modern naval aviation tactics in the Indo-Pacific, with follow-on aircraft carrier too scheduled to be launched within this decade.
Based on the emerging threat perception in the Indo-Pacific, the construction of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is within India’s grasp. While China has commissioned two aircraft carriers and commenced the work on third within the past decade as part of its ambition to build one of the world’s largest naval fleet, Indian Navy is poised to emerge as a serious adversary to this expansionist trot of China.
With Indo-Pacific emerging as a modern hotspot, a multinational Joint Task Force spearheaded by multiple Aircraft Carriers is evolving as a new norm and even UK and France carriers too have been active along with their escort warships within the region.
US has planned a new fleet within the Indo-Pacific theatre with a focus towards southwest Pacific and the Indian Ocean Regions (Singapore, India or other allies to base the warships and other support roles), while the strong US 7th Fleet based at Japan already has Area of Operations involving Russia, China, India, North Korea and Republic of Korea.
Commissioning of India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant has the world awakened to a newer power dynamic, where modern India emerges as a major Indo-Pacific sea power. The indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant (Sanskrit for courageous) truly reflects this in its motto “Jayema Sam Yudhi Sprdhaḥ” i.e. “I defeat those who fight against me”.
The author is a Strategic Analyst with an expertise in technologies related to C4I solutions and Multiplatform Multi-sensor Data Fusion (MPMSDF).
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