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.

India to commission its first supersonic naval fighter squadron of MiG-29K jets

India on Saturday will commission its first-ever squadron of naval supersonic fighters, the MiG-29K "air superiority" jets, which will eventually operate from the decks of aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya ( Admiral Gorshkov) as well as the indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC).

Defence minister AK Antony will do the honours at the ceremony at the naval airbase INS Hansa in Goa, which will also mark the diamond jubilee celebrations of the fleet's "air arm" of the force. While celebrations are certainly in order, it also underlines the lack of long-term strategic planning and timely decision-making in the country.

The MiG-29Ks — the first 16 of the 45 fighters ordered from Russia for over $2 billion will constitute the INSAS 303 "Black Panthers" squadron — began arriving in India a couple of years ago but the 44,570-tonne Gorshkov will be ready for delivery only by end-2013 after being refurbished in Russia for $2.33 billion.

Similarly, the 40,000-tonne IAC being built at Cochin Shipyard will not be handed over to the Navy anytime before 2018, derailing the force's long-standing ambition to operate two full-fledged carrier battle groups (CBGs) by 2015. The 65,000-tonne IAC-II, in turn, remains merely on the drawing board as of now.

As earlier reported by TOI, India's only solitary carrier, the 54-year-old INS Viraat, is currently out of action while undergoing yet another life-extension refit. Moreover, it has only 11 Sea Harrier jump-jets left to operate from its deck, with no replacement of the fighters possible.

All this when the recent Pentagon report on China's growing military might holds Beijing is pursuing a robust carrier building programme after inducting its first carrier, the, the 65,000-tonne Liaoning, in September last year. "China is likely to build multiple aircraft carriers over the next decade," it said.

China, of course, will take some years to master the highly-complex art of operating its J-15 fighters from a moving airfield on the high seas and then transforming the entire package into a potent offensive weapons platform. India, in contrast, has been in the business of operating "flattops" for five decades now, commissioning as it did its first carrier INS Vikrant with SeaHawk jets way back in 1961.

It has long been realized that CBGs prowling on the high seas project power like nothing else on the globe. It's no wonder that as part of its impending pivot towards Asia-Pacific, the US plans to deploy at least six of its 11 CBGs — each American carrier is over 94,000 tonne and capable of handling 80-90 fighters — in the region. Asia-Pacific has emerged as the new strategic theatre for rivalry between US and China, with India too jostling for space with the latter in the Indian Ocean region.

However, India will be able to deploy two potent CBGs only after 2018 when INS Vikramaditya and IAC are able to operate together. This, however, does not detract from the sheer capabilities of the MiG-29Ks. With mid-air refuelling and an extended combat radius of operations as well as BVR (beyond visual range) and guided anti-ship missiles, MiG-29Ks will provide a "four-fold capability jump" over the Sea Harriers, say officers.

The MiG-29Ks, with a range of 1,300km and a service ceiling of 58,000-feet, are capable of STOBAR (short takeoff but arrested recovery) operations. They are armed with R-73 and RVV-AE guided air-to-air missiles, Kh-35E anti-ship missiles, KAB 500KR/OD TV guided bombs and S-8KOM rockets.

ILA: MiG-29 production takes off, as Indian carrier trials near end

RAC MiG is boosting production activities to meet increased demand for its MiG-29 series of combat aircraft, with the design bureau also close to completing a series of aircraft carrier-based trials for India.

Following its receipt of major orders to supply the Indian and Russian navies with its MiG-29K deck fighter and MiG-29KUB trainer, MiG's production partners will complete 24 aircraft in 2012, up from 11 last year. A further dramatic increase is expected, however, with chief executive Sergey Korotkov having indicated that the annual rate may have to grow to 36 units to keep up with demand.

MiG says it is on track to complete embarked tests with the MiG-29K/KUB aboard the ex-Russian navy vessel the Admiral Gorshkov, which will soon re-enter Indian use as the INS Vikramaditya.

"The testing flights are to be fulfilled before the ship's handing over to the Indian navy, scheduled for December 2012," MiG announced at the show, with the work including using the carrier's "ski jump" ramp.

The service has already received a first batch of 16 aircraft, and will get the first four examples from a follow-on order for 29 more later this year.

Russia's navy will also later field 24 MiG-29K/KUBs with its lone aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, under a contract signed in February.

While the opportunity to make further sales with the K-series fighter is narrow, Korotkov sees the land-based MiG-29M/M2 as holding great potential. Boasting open-architecture avionics, a new radar and with an expanded range of air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons, the type is already being offered to possible customers.

"We are certain that as per its cost-efficiency ratio, the MiG-29M/M2 is capable to compete with any modern fighter," Korotkov says. "Many countries, who initially had declared a fast-track transition to Western weaponry, after complex analysis have corrected their approaches."

Indians Discuss Future Carrier Plans

With India’s first indigenous carrier (IAC-1) now under construction at the Cochin shipyard, there is speculation surrounding future aircraft carriers, and Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Nirmal Verma told AIN that the design of the second carrier has not been decided. IAC-1 has a ski jump, but it has not been decided yet whether a planned second indigenous carrier (IAC-2) would be similarly equipped with a ski jump for short-takeoff but arrested recovery (Stobar) operations. Russia has proposed joint development of an advanced carrier design to India.

“[We] do not rule out the IAC-2 catapult or the F-35 [naval version] in the future…it will be years before we decide,” Verma said. “Some people are jumping to conclusions [on the design]. The training, maintenance and aircraft commonality issues we will face with the catapult design are entirely different. We have other priorities…We have to examine what would be a reasonable time-frame for introduction,” he added.

Should India opt for the catapult design, it would need Western aircraft. The navy has already shown interest in Northrop Grumman E-2D Hawkeye AEW aircraft. Lockheed Martin, too, has proposed the naval version of the F-35 to the Indian navy.

The 260-meter-long IAC-1 is expected to carry 12 MiG-29Ks, eight light combat aircraft (LCA) and 10 anti-submarine and reconnaissance helicopters on its 2.5-acre flight deck and hangars. However, in the face of major technological challenges, the indigenously built naval version of the LCA made its maiden flight this year. But basic design changes are needed, such as a strengthened airframe and landing gear, arrester hook, improved engine, enhanced aerodynamic performance and incorporation of special metals/materials. “There is much work to be done. It will take time before it reaches the AOC,” cautioned Verma.

Meanwhile, 16 MiG-29K/KUBs will initially equip the Russian-built INS Vikramaditya (ex-Gorshkov) and the IAC-1. With 29 more ordered, deliveries of the MiGs will start at the end of this year. A ski-jump training facility is being prepared at the navy’s airbase in Goa, said Verma.

Italy-based Fincantieri’s Naval Vessel Business Unit is said to have been involved in the concept, design and implementation plans of IAC-1. It is still not clear if the Indian navy will accept Russia’s offer of cooperation on the design of IAC-2, but geo-political considerations are a factor. Verma declined to comment on whether IAC-2 would be nuclear powered.