INS Vikrant Joins Milan 2024, Gets LR-SAM, MF-STAR and EW Suite

The Indian Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, is set to make its debut at Milan 2024, the largest-ever multilateral naval exercise hosted by India. This participation marks a significant milestone for the Indian Navy and showcases the nation’s growing capabilities in indigenous defense technology.

INS Vikrant, recently completed its installation of critical systems at Cochin Shipyard Limited, including:

Strengthened Defenses​

• LR-SAM (Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile): This joint development by India’s DRDO and Israel’s IAI provides advanced air defense capabilities against aircraft, missiles, and drones.
• MF-STAR (Multi-Function Active Phased Array Radar): Manufactured by IAI, this state-of-the-art radar offers superior detection and tracking performance, supporting air and surface operations.
• SHAKTI Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite: Developed by DRDO, this comprehensive suite protects the carrier from electronic threats and enhances situational awareness.

With these crucial upgrades, INS Vikrant signifies a major milestone in India’s journey towards self-reliance in defense technology. The IAC, boasting a deep displacement of approximately 45,000 tonnes, stands as the country’s most ambitious warship project and a symbol of its growing maritime prowess.

Milan 2024, scheduled for February 19-24, will see the participation of navies from over 40 countries, including warships, submarines, and aircraft. INS Vikrant’s involvement in this prestigious exercise underscores its operational readiness and serves as a platform to showcase India’s indigenous shipbuilding capabilities on the global stage.

 

[Apocalypse gupta]

when did it become LR-SAM from MR-SAM?

 

[The_rED_dEVIL]

when did it become LR-SAM from MR-SAM?

Naval variant of Baral 8 is LRSAM from the beginning as it has 100 km range agianst 70 km for land based MRSAM.

 

[NSR]

Congratulations.
All of them are very important and must have systems.
With all of these installed, it will be battle ready on its own and with carrier battle groups.
Way to go!!!

 

[desigandu]

India needs to start building the next IAC-2 soon (45000Ton follow on carrier).

 

[Aayush Pratap]

Next, a flattop.. Let's Go!!

 

[Sandeep]

India should start work on building another 45000t repeat Vikrant class carrier which we need to replace the Vikramaditya carrier some time within the next 10 years as the carrier is very old now despite modernising it or upgrading it several times and it will take 6-8 years to build and another 2 years for running the tests and certifying it fit. In this carrier the level of indigenous content and technology should increase to above 90% at the bare minimum so that we benefit more.

At the same time India should design and develop a brand new 80000t carrier so that we can defend the country's large exclusive economic zone, shorelines and the Indian Ocean against China as it will take a long time to construct such a large carrier and within that time the threat from China will continue to persist.

 

[Anant]

India should start work on building another 45000t repeat Vikrant class carrier which we need to replace the Vikramaditya carrier some time within the next 10 years as the carrier is very old

Vikramaditya can serve till 2043 or so. The Navy had budgeted a total of 40 years for Vikramaditya's service. She served 9 years in her original form, so even if you ignore the rebuild essentially giving her a new lease on life, you get another three decades of service, which comes out to 2043-44.

Regardless, we should go for IAC-II at the earliest to get a three carrier force, and a larger 65,000-75,000 nuclear CATOBAR carrier can then follow in the late 2040s to replace Vikramaditya. If we have IAC-II, then Vikramaditya can be maintained in a semi-reserve status (similar to how the old Vikrant was maintained in 1987-97 and Viraat was maintained in 2013-17), thereby extending her life to close to 2048-50.