The need for third aircraft carrier for the indian navy and the so called problems with INS VIKRANT

 

India is the worlds 7th biggest country in the world if we consider the area of the nation . The sea coasts of India is 7500 km 

The shape of india in the down south which touches the ocean is a delta or a triangle shaped due to which it requires a larger navy because in any kind of war their should be at least two naval fleets to command and protect the maritime interests and the sovereignty of the nation because unless a country like pakistan which have a linear shaped coast line

it would be very easy for the pakistani navy to reach from east to west or vice versa but the indian navy would have to travel a long distance to travel from east to west

And that`s why the Indian navy being a potent aircraft carrier force in the region for more than 60 years the Indian navy have expressed a minimum requirement of 3 aircraft carriers to guard both the east and the west coasts of the nation

present and retired carrier of indian navy

3 carriers are required because the carriers are huge ships which carries aircrafts and in every 1 to 2 years the aircrafts are send for refurbishment / overhaul or maintenance in the original dockyard which manufactured them this maintenance takes almost 6 to 8 months

so if the navy had 3 aircraft carriers then at any given point of time their should me one carrier in the shipyard and 2 at the sa guarding the nation . For the third aircraft carrier indian navy is considering two options in which first option would be to construct a entire new 65,000 ton CATOBAR aircraft carrier which would almost resemble the american aircraft carriers and will be able to carry more aircraft as compared to both the current indian carriers

and the second option which is being explored by the indian navy is to construct a sister ship of the current INS VIKRANT 

Considering the current financial conditions of the indian navy the most optimal option for the indian navy would be a sister ship of INS Vikrant because it would be easy to make and the shipyard which was involved in the manufacturing of INS Vikrant i.e Cochin Shipyard Limited ( CSL )

 

will have all the blue prints and the labour force for the construction of the third carrier and CSL has also conveyed to the indian navy that if the indian navy places a order for the sister ship of INS Vikrant then the CSL would deliver the the new aircraft carrier  within a record time of of just 7 Years and it is a very short time considering the 13 year time period of INS Vikrant because at the time before the vikrant the CSL had to start from zero , it had to train its engineers and labours , it had to develop a whole new infrastructure , and to setup the MSME`s (micro small and medium enterprises for the supply of the components for the ship but if the navy goes for sister sip of Vikrant the shipyard would just have to do a copy paste of Vikrant 

SO CALLED PROBLEMS WITH INS VIKRANT

In the recent past the Indian navy have conducted the maiden sea trials of the IAC 1 or INS Vikrant and some of the defence experts and youtubers have commented on the lift size of the carrier and stated that the lift size of the carrier is very small and the width of the lift is almost 9 to 10 m

and is much small if we consider the MRCBF ( multi role carrier based fighter )  tender floated by the indian navy in which the indian navy would but 57 foreign fighters for the carriers operational in the indian navy and the aircrafts which are the key competitors in the programme are the american FA 18 super hornet and the french Rafale M 

These people have commented that the folded wingspan of the FA 18  is 32.6 ft or 10 m

and since the the french Rafale does not come with a folded wing configuration its width is 11 m

  and they claim that with such big wing span these aircrafts cannot be fitted on the lifts of the carrier an ultimately the indian navy would have to buy the russian Mig 29K which would not be a good option for the indian navy as the availability rate of there russian aircrafts is just 60 to 70 % as compared to the 75 % to 85 % of the super hornet and the Rafale M and also these western aircrafts are also better then the russian MIG if we compare the electronic warfare capabilities and the weight carrying capabilities of them   

REALITY 

The indian navy has clarified that the two lifts of the carrier is not small and the IAC 1 would be big enough for accommodating Mig 29K , India's home grown TEDBF ( Twin engine deck based fighter aircraft ) , Rafale M

, Unmanned stealth aircrafts or stealth drones , FA 18 on it 

The Indian navy has not provided the official dimensions of the lift but it is estimated to be around 16.5 m to 11.20 m  and the lift of INS Vikrant or IAC 1 would be fit for the lift almost all the carrier based fighters of the world except the russian SU 33  which is 20.2 m long but it is not in the list of MRCBF

But if the indian navy decides to go with the indigenous TEDBF their would be no problem as the TEDBF will have a folded wingspan of 7.6m which will create no problem even if the lift are 10 m wide

. But till the TEDBF is not in the service the navy is considering to operate 20 fighters on IAC 1 out of which 12 will be Mig 29 K and 8 will be NLCA ( NAVAL Tejas )

Conclusion 

1.   Indian navy needs 3 aircraft carriers for guarding both the eastern and western fronts as at that time                                      2 will be on deployment and one will be in servicing 

2.   The width of the IAC 1 is not small as according the Indian navy it could accommodate any fighter                        in the world and the estimated width of the lift is 16.5 m to 11.20 m  

3.  Even if the Indian navy decides to go with Indigenous TEDBF , till the TEDBF comes in 2030                       for the immediate deployment ij 2022 the indian navy could deploy a combo of 12 mig 29 k                                                      and  8 NLCA