So 20 fixed wing platforms and 10 rotary platforms. That's quite a bit. One thing about our naval projects, seems to be the one area where our manufacturing capabilities are up to mark (not in the subsystems like air defense radar and all) but the projects get delayed due to the frequent changes instituted by the NDB?
Btw if we go for a steam catapult on the INS Vishal, will we have to get that too from the States?
Nope, unlike IAF, IN don't change the requirements midway into any project.
There are absolutely NO MAJOR changes made to the original designs.
The delays can be attributed to the some older methods used by our Shipyards.
Currently our Shipyards capability to build a Frigate/Destroyer is about 7-8 years from the date of Keel Laying, add to this the fact that GOI takes few years to approve a project + defense shipyards take some few years in b/w the time of approval to time of keel laying to adjust to the new capabilities needed (like the project of Shivalik Class frigates was approved by GOI in 1997, but first ship was laid down in 2001).
Also, the low orders of ships i.e. in batch of 3/4 can be attributed to these delays, since till the time IN gets these ships, the complete tech. changes (it takes around 15 years as of now from GOI approval to inducting all the ships).
But, now there are some major improvements:
1. GOI is now giving approval in parallel to the already going project (like P-17A was approved even before P-17 got completed).
2. LOI is also issued to Shipyards in parallel.
3. All major Defense shipyards have Switched on the Modular Construction methods (MDL, GSL, CSL) & now every major ship will be constructed by modular methods.
So, according to Ajai Shukla, these changes will reduce the time of construction of major ships like Frigates/Destroyers to about 5 years, still we have to go a long way to catch Major Powers in Ship Constructions like SK & China.
