But what puts doubts on this in my mind is the fighters, people whom I have talked to have always mentioned 2 more squadrons of Fulcrums will likely be ordered, they haven't mentioned anything about Rafale M.
Reason being we have an option to order more fulcrums or Mig29K about 40-50 more. The plan for Rafales started steaming when the idea of 5 CBG plan was mooted by IN. That plan is the cause of all this.. the IAC1 first one initially may see again Mig29K deployments if we order more jets or we dont work out a plan for any other option.
But
@PARIKRAMA dude don't you think 2 AC's of vikrant kind is unnecessary!!! 1 more is k and build the Nuke carrier with EMALS
No we need it.. the IN plan is 5 CBGs
1. INS Vikramaditya (1 in number eventually to be replaced by IAC 1 modified)
2. IAC 1 class (3 over time)
3. IAC 2 class (2 in numbers)
The idea is patrolling in
1. Western Coast Arabian Sea (Most probably IAC2)
2. Eastern Coast bay of Bengal (INS vikramaditya later IAC1)
3. Andaman and Nicobar (Most probably IAC2)
4. Seychelles- mauritius- Chabhar (IAC1)
5. Standby (IAC1)
This way 2 N ACC are in both east and west front. I dont see N ACC being deployed too much away from India owing to its strategic importance so West coast, east coast to Andaman may be max rotation.
At present Vikramaditya is doing more patrolling in Arabian Sea so you can see why a strategic shift is needed with multiple numbers..
But adding aircraft carriers is not enough , we need destroyers , frigates, ASW Corvettes, SSNs, SSKs along with ocean oilers to support the operations.
Fully agree.. A ACC means nothing alone.. we need dedicated CBGs and a lot more ships.. no doubt about it