INS Vikramaditya Reaches Operational Milestone with 11 Years of Commission, Embodying its Motto, "Strike Far, Strike Sure"

INS Vikramaditya, the Indian Navy's formidable aircraft carrier, celebrates 11 years of dedicated service to the nation today. Commissioned on November 16, 2013, this 45,400-tonne behemoth has become a symbol of India's maritime power, truly embodying its motto, "Strike Far, Strike Sure."

Originally acquired from Russia and extensively modernized, INS Vikramaditya serves as a floating airbase, significantly bolstering India's ability to project power and secure its vast maritime interests. As the flagship of the Indian Navy, it has played a pivotal role in safeguarding the nation's sea lanes and demonstrating its commitment to regional stability.

Designed for a 25-year lifespan, INS Vikramaditya is now approaching the halfway mark of its operational life. The Indian Navy has demonstrated a strong commitment to maintaining the carrier's combat readiness through regular maintenance and upgrades. This includes a major refit in 2021-2022, ensuring its continued effectiveness in the face of evolving naval warfare technologies.

INS Vikramaditya's 11-year journey has been marked by significant achievements:

• Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR): The carrier has been a key player in HADR missions, providing aid and support during natural disasters and emergencies, upholding the Navy's motto of "service before self."
• Operational Deployments: INS Vikramaditya has actively participated in numerous maritime exercises with partner nations, including Malabar, Varuna, and TROPEX, showcasing its strategic importance in collaborative efforts to ensure regional security.
• Force Projection: The carrier's presence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and beyond has served as a powerful deterrent, underscoring India's naval capabilities and resolve to protect its interests.

As INS Vikramaditya enters the second half of its operational life, it remains a potent symbol of India's maritime ambitions. The carrier stands ready to defend the nation's frontiers and "strike with precision" whenever called upon, solidifying its position as a cornerstone of India's naval power.

 

[R. Singh]

Buy F-35B along with Rafale-M for our two carriers to remain leader in AC operations ! Arm our warships with DEW/ laser dome and rail gun mount !

 

[swatkats_razor]

11 years of "service" or 'servicing". Most of last 11 years this soviet junk has spent under on e or the other overhaul at shipyards the world over.

 

[Mayank Jadav]

11 years of "service" or 'servicing". Most of last 11 years this soviet junk has spent under on e or the other overhaul at shipyards the world over.

We have another carrier as well, INS Vikrant. It will become fully capable once the Rafale M is inducted into the Indian Navy.

 

[swatkats_razor]

We have another carrier as well, INS Vikrant. It will become fully capable once the Rafale M is inducted into the Indian Navy.

I know. I have much more hope for the INS Vikrant. But howmuchever we try to sugarcoat acquisition of INS Vikramaditya, it has been a bad investment and has had "Don't touch me" written all over it from the very beginning.
It was naive of our strategic planners to have invested billions into an old abandoned platform.

 

[Anant]

11 years already done. I still remember the day she was commissioned. Sheesh, I am also getting old...

Anyways, Vikramaditya was gauged to have about 35 years of life left when she was commissioned. Assuming a more rational number of 30 (given we do not want to operate her to the extent we operated Vikrant between 1993 and 1996 and Viraat between 2014 and 2017), we need to start work on IAC-III, which will replace Vikramaditya, asap.

Get IAC-II started, and then, we can hopefully start construction of IAC-III around 2031, which would allow that ship to enter service just as Vikramaditya bows out.

 

[Anant]

11 years of "service" or 'servicing". Most of last 11 years this soviet junk has spent under on e or the other overhaul at shipyards the world over.

Not quite. Vikramaditya's refits were from August to November 2015 (routine maintenance), May to October 2018 (again routine maintenance), and December 2020 to July 2022 (first major refit). That adds up to about 27 months, or 2.25 years. If you really want to factor in post-refit trials, that number goes up to about 34 months.

27 to 34 months of refit in 11 years of service is pretty reasonable by international standards. Ideally, both those numbers could have been 3 months lesser, but the electrical fire near the end of the first major refit put her back in for 10 weeks.

Of course, she is due to enter routine maintenance again early next year, and that will be a 3-5 month affair, and get the ship ready to serve through 2028.

 

[SK]

It's a good indication that Indian-Govt & Navy should consider to develop IAC-2 & IAC-3 as CATOBAR versions of INS-Vikrant.

IAC-3 will replace the ageing INS Vikramaditya & CATOBAR system will allow IN to operated carrier-based AWAC Aircraft.

This can also create the technical know-how within the Indian Shipbuilding industry to convert INS Vikrant into a CATOBAR Carrier during one of It's Upgrades.

 

[swatkats_razor]

27 to 34 months of refit in 11 years of service is pretty reasonable by international standards.

Thank you. I dont have stats at hand to compare. Do you have figures on the time spent in the docks for a simiilarly specced aircraft carrier (probably of British or Russian origin) to compare?

I know, this is a unyieldy question to seek, as often such data-points are not readily available in the public domain.

 

[Anant]

Thank you. I dont have stats at hand to compare. Do you have figures on the time spent in the docks for a simiilarly specced aircraft carrier (probably of British or Russian origin) to compare?

I know, this is a unyieldy question to seek, as often such data-points are not readily available in the public domain.

Sir, comparing the Admiral Kuznetsov (Russia's carrier) with anyone else will make the other nation look like heroes.

As for other conventional carriers, let's look at a few nations.

For Britain, HMS Queen Elizabeth has spent about 19 months in refit and testing over the last 7 or so years. HMS Prince of Wales has spent about 30 months in refit, repair, and testing over the last 5-ish years. Do remember that PoW was damaged at one point due to flooding, so that has to be taken into account.

For China, looking at Liaoning shows she has spent about 30 months in refit and testing over the last 12-ish years, excluding time spent on training exercises. For the Shandong, she has spent about 4 months in refit over the last 5 years. Though these numbers seem smaller, do remember that Shandong rarely sailed until earlier this year.

As a funny point of reference, the Admiral Kuznetsov has served for a grand total of about 6.5 years over the almost 34 years since her commissioning. In contrast, she has spent about 15 years in refit and repair.

 

[swatkats_razor]

Sir, comparing the Admiral Kuznetsov (Russia's carrier) with anyone else will make the other nation look like heroes.

Admiral Kiznetsov is the peak of Soviet Ill-engineearing. Its a manifestation of everything that was wrong with Soviet System in 1980s.

For China, looking at Liaoning shows she has spent about 30 months in refit and testing over the last 12-ish years, excluding time spent on training exercises. For the Shandong, she has spent about 4 months in refit over the last 5 years. Though these numbers seem smaller, do remember that Shandong rarely sailed until earlier this year.

The sister-ship Ex-Varyag aka Liaoning is mostly a testbed for the Chinese Aircraft Carrier. I've herd that the Chinese Liaoning is actually better equipped and more modern than Admiral Kuznetsov ever was. That speaks a lot about how far the Chinese engineering has come. And this is something we should be worried about. Chinese technology is no longer copycat. Far from it, today China is a pioneer in engineering. The sooner we come to realization and accept the facts vis-a-vis China, the better our strategy to break the Chinese encirclement will be.

Thanks again, for taking time to throw some light on real-world facts.

 

[Anant]

Admiral Kiznetsov is the peak of Soviet Ill-engineearing. Its a manifestation of everything that was wrong with Soviet System in 1980s.

The sister-ship Ex-Varyag aka Liaoning is mostly a testbed for the Chinese Aircraft Carrier. I've herd that the Chinese Liaoning is actually better equipped and more modern than Admiral Kuznetsov ever was. That speaks a lot about how far the Chinese engineering has come. And this is something we should be worried about. Chinese technology is no longer copycat. Far from it, today China is a pioneer in engineering. The sooner we come to realization and accept the facts vis-a-vis China, the better our strategy to break the Chinese encirclement will be.

Thanks again, for taking time to throw some light on real-world facts.

The irony of it is that the Kuznetsov itself is a design which could and should have worked. That is not to say there aren't questionable design choices: The tubes for the AShMs literally in the middle of the flight deck is an utterly idiotic design choice. The Soviets could have instead used angled launchers along the bridge (refer to the original design of the Sovremenny- and Udaloy-class destroyers), and got a much better design. Instead, they went with what has become a maintenance nightmare.

The Chinese fixed Liaoning by buying the hulk and essentially rebuilding it. The two most problematic things (the machinery and the AShM tubes) were replaced and/or removed, which eliminated a lot of potential issues.

Where the Soviets and the Russians mucked up is that they first hastened the ship's completion (she was completed just as the USSR completed its existence, after all), which led to flaws being ignored and necessary testing being skipped over.

The next problem was that thanks to the utter collapse of the Soviet Navy in the early 1990s, maintenance on Kuznetsov became an afterthought, and the ship was allowed to operate for a couple of years without refits and routine maintenance, which messed up the internal systems. To paraphrase a Russian engineering officer from the time, the Kuznetsov was run to the point that most machinery, even after repairs, would be operating at higher-than-usual stress levels, which then led to very frequent breakdowns.

Of course, the Russians have a bunch of mechanical issues with the carrier, and few trained personnel. Moreover, most of the heavy infrastructure that was used to build the Kuznetsov (and other Soviet carriers for that matter) went to Ukraine after 1991.

The Kuznetsov has simply become a white elephant at this point. However, the fact that her basic design was perfectly fine can be seen when you consider that nations other than Russia which operate Soviet and Russian equipment tend to face significantly fewer challenges than Russia does.

 

[Anant]

It's a good indication that Indian-Govt & Navy should consider to develop IAC-2 & IAC-3 as CATOBAR versions of INS-Vikrant.

IAC-3 will replace the ageing INS Vikramaditya & CATOBAR system will allow IN to operated carrier-based AWAC Aircraft.

This can also create the technical know-how within the Indian Shipbuilding industry to convert INS Vikrant into a CATOBAR Carrier during one of It's Upgrades.

Boss, the problem with that is that converting the Vikrant design to CATOBAR is challenging, to say the least. The problem here is how you operate those catapults.

If you want steam catapults, given that Vikrant runs on gas turbines, you'd have to specifically install boilers just to generate steam, which is a very energy intensive and inefficient process.

If you want electromagnetic catapults, well, firstly, the US system is too expensive and the indigenous system is still being tested. Secondly, you'd have to install a lot more extra power, which is space not available on the carrier.

 

[Gurmeet Singh]

I know. I have much more hope for the INS Vikrant. But howmuchever we try to sugarcoat acquisition of INS Vikramaditya, it has been a bad investment and has had "Don't touch me" written all over it from the very beginning.
It was naive of our strategic planners to have invested billions into an old abandoned platform.

Bad investment?

Mate where the heck on earth will you get an Aircraft Carrier for under a billion $?

In Vikramaditya everything above it's keel is new or refurbished including engines, electronics, wiring, piping and electronics. Most of the time it went into maintenance was for the calibration & reconfiguring of it's systems not for extensive repairs.

 

[swatkats_razor]

Mate where the heck on earth will you get an Aircraft Carrier for under a billion $?

INS Vikramaditya cost under a billionaire dollars?
That is news to me.
Can you double check your figure?

 

[Anant]

Bad investment?

Mate where the heck on earth will you get an Aircraft Carrier for under a billion $?

In Vikramaditya everything above it's keel is new or refurbished including engines, electronics, wiring, piping and electronics. Most of the time it went into maintenance was for the calibration & reconfiguring of it's systems not for extensive repairs.

Boss, while the Vikramaditya was a decent purchase, and the only viable option at the time, the price tag was 2.35 billion USD, not under 1 billion.