Indian Navy eyes high-tech options for future aircraft carriers

The Indian Navy — one of just nine navies that operate aircraft carriers — is thinking high-tech in planning its second indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vishal. The admirals are deciding whether INS Vishal, still only a concept, should launch aircraft from its deck using a technology so advanced that it is not yet in service anywhere: the Electro-Magnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS).

Getting a fully loaded combat aircraft airborne off a short, 200-metre-long deck is a key challenge in aircraft carrier operations. The INS Viraat, currently India’s only aircraft carrier, uses Short Take Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) since its Harrier “jump-jets” take off and land almost like helicopters. INS Vikramaditya, which Russia will deliver this year, uses Short Take Off But Arrested Recovery (STOBAR). The Vikramaditya’s MiG-29K fighters will fly off an inclined ramp called a “ski-jump”; and land with the help of arrester wires laid across the deck, which snag on a hook on the fighter’s tail, literally dragging it to a halt. This system will also be used on the first indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, which Cochin Shipyard plans to deliver by 2017.

But INS Vishal, which will follow the Vikrant, might employ a third technique that India has never used -— Catapult Assisted Take Off But Arrested Recovery, or CATOBAR. Perfected by the US Navy since World War II, this has a steam-driven piston system along the flight deck “catapulting” the aircraft to 200 kilometres per hour, fast enough to get airborne. With greater steam pressure, significantly heavier aircraft can be launched. US Navy carriers launch the E-2D Hawkeye, a lumbering Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft that scans airspace over hundreds of kilometres.

EMALS, the new-generation catapult that the Indian Navy is evaluating, uses a powerful electro-magnetic field instead of steam. Developed by General Atomics, America’s largest privately held defence contractor, EMALS has been chosen by the US Department of Defence for its new-generation aircraft carriers. The first EMALS-equipped carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, will enter service by 2016. In Delhi Last Thursday, General Atomics briefed thirty Indian Navy captains and admirals on EMALS. Scott Forney III, the senior General Atomics official who conducted the briefing, told Business Standard that tight US controls over this guarded technology required special permission from Washington for sharing technical details of EMALS with India.

Senior Indian naval planners tell Business Standard that INS Vikrant, India’s next 40,000 tonne aircraft carrier, will use STOBAR to operate its complement of MiG-29K and Tejas light fighters. But Vikrant’s successor, the 65,000 tonne INS Vishal, could well be a CATOBAR carrier that launches larger and more diverse aircraft.

“While current fighters like the MiG-29K can operate with STOBAR systems, our options will increase with CATOBAR. We could operate heavier fighters, AEW aircraft and, crucially, UCAVs (unmanned combat air vehicles). A UCAV would require a CATOBAR system for launch,” says one admiral.

The navy is closely following UCAV development in India and abroad. On May 14, the X-47B UCAV that Northrop Grumman is developing for the US Navy became the first UCAV to be catapulted off an aircraft carrier, the USS George HW Bush.

Naval planners believe that, with INS Vishal likely to enter service in the early 2020s, they should plan on operating UCAVs from that carrier, as well as an AEW aircraft, and medium and light fighters.

“We could greatly expand our mission envelope with UCAVs, using the pilotless aircraft for high risk reconnaissance and SEAD (suppression of enemy air defences). Mid-air refueling would let us keep UCAVs on mission for 24-36 hours continuously, since pilot fatigue would not be a factor,” says a naval planner.

General Atomics has emphasized the EMALS’ ability to launch multiple aircraft. It has told the navy that EMALS causes less wear and tear on carrier-launched aircraft since electric power can be delivered more accurately than steam. It also launches aircraft quicker; requires less personnel to operate; and its high acceleration allows launches in still conditions, when STOBAR aircraft carriers must sail at 20-30 knots to generate “wind-over-deck,” needed to create the lift required for take off.

“We have completed 134 test launches across five classes of aircraft, including the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter; the F/A-18E Super Hornet; the C-2A Greyhound (delivery aircraft); the T-45 Goshawk trainer; and the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye,” Forney briefed the navy.

While the navy is impressed by the EMALS’ capabilities, there is apprehension that buying it may prove difficult. It would be a “single-vendor” procurement of a system that is untested in operational service, making it hard to validate General Atomics’ claim of being cheaper in the long term. But industry watchers point out that cutting-edge equipment like EMALS is what New Delhi wants from US-India defense relations. “The EMALS enhances India’s strategic capability. If New Delhi deems this a priority for collaboration, the US might well sanction the release of this technology,” says Manohar Thyagaraj, of the Observer Research Foundation.

INS Viraat can continue for another 3 years

The navy’s sole aircraft carrier INS Viraat can continue its service for another three years, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday.

In a written reply, Defence Minister A K Antony said adequate safeguards are in place to ensure that navy’s operational capabilities are not compromised during the time a ship is under refit and repairs. He was asked whether the country does not have an aircraft carrier prowling the high seas.

“No. One aircraft carrier is currently in commission ... (INS) Viraat can soldier on for another three years,” he said.

Antony also said that repairs and refits are planned activities and a normal feature in the life of a ship. “Adequate safeguards are in place to ensure that the operational capabilities of the navy are not compromised during the time a ship is under refit. After completion of refit, the life of a ship gets extended depending on the nature of refit,” he said.

In reply to another question, he said a contract has been signed with the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for supply of 42 Su-30 MKI aircraft at a total cost of Rs 16,147.28 crore. He also said the aircraft are planned to be delivered by 2016-17.

Replying to a query on establishment of a strike corps, Antony denied that the government has shelved the proposal to raise and maintain such a corps.

On proposals to export indigenously developed helicopters, Minister of State for Defence Jitendra Singh said, “Seven Advance Light Helicopters (ALH) Dhruv have already been supplied to the Ecuador.” 

Jitendra Singh added that orders have come for supply of three Chetak and equal number of Cheetal helicopters to Suriname and Afghanistan, respectively.

Replying to a question on list of defence equipment bought under Life Cycle Cost method, Antony said, “So far only one contract i.e. supply of Basic Trainer Aircraft, has been concluded using the total cost of acquisition model under the LCC approach.” 

INS Viraat arrives in Kochi for periodic refit

INS Viraat, the aircraft carrier operated by the Navy, arrived in Kochi on Friday for its periodic refit at the Cochin Shipyard (CSL). The work is expected to last at least three months

The Navy’s flagship, now berthed at the Cochin Port, is expected to be dry-docked at the shipyard sometime next week, primarily for the restoration of its underwater surface and gears.

The dry-docking of the decrepit warhorse for another round of preventive maintenance comes in the wake of news from Russia about a further delay in the delivery of INS Vikramaditya, an old Russian aircraft carrier extensively rebuilt for India, which is undergoing repairs following serious steam-boiler malfunctions during sea trials.

The steam-boiler breakdown put paid to the Navy’s policy of retaining at least one carrier battle group (CBG) in operation at any given time. The latest development has pushed the delivery date back by another year.

Meanwhile, the construction of India’s maiden Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) at the CSL has also slipped behind schedule due to the non-delivery of certain qualified critical equipment, including the gear box. The IAC, which was floated out at a low-key ceremony earlier this year, is likely to be taken to the building bay later this year.

The ageing INS Viraat, which underwent a life-enhancing refit at the CSL ahead of its golden jubilee in 2009, is said to be in good shape and to expected to last till 2018, by which time the Navy would have inducted Vikramaditya and, possibly, the IAC as well.

In the refit, INS Viraat’s hull and underwater equipment will be cleaned and probed for corrosion and, if need be, weak hull parts reinforced with fresh metal plates.

The hull of the mammoth vessel, which displaces 28,000 tonnes, will also get a fresh coat of corrosion-resistant paint. Everything underwater — the rudder, propeller and so on — will be checked and made failsafe. Concurrently, the systems and equipment on board the ship will also get a lift as per the Navy’s maintenance schedule, naval sources said.

Commissioned into the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom as HMS Hermes on November 18, 1959, the Centaur-class vessel became part of the Indian Navy in 1987.