Like how the navy is shaping up.
The projected navy in my view in the near future will be 3 carriers.
1 INS vikramaditya with helicopters and mig-29k.
2 IACs with LCA naval and helicopters.And aew aircraft.
Among the heavy surface combatants.All will have a main gun.
3 P-15A Kolakata class destroyers.[under construction,1st induction late 2012]
4 P-15B Kolkata class destroyers.[Cleared by defence ministry]
These will replace the current backbone of our surface fleet.The 3 delhi class heavy destroyers and the 5 rajput kashin 2 class destroyers.
The first 3 will carry the barhmos cruise missile for surface armament,depth charge/torpedo launcher,plus 2 helicopters for ASW and AEW,The New generation indo israeli barak ng SAM as premier anti air armament and the kashtan mixed Point air defence system which is basically a combination of a gatling guns and the san-12 gadfly missile.For the IN the gadfly is replaced by point defence short range barak -1 SAM.
The main advancement on the 2nd batch will be installment of more stealthy shape,land attack Nirbhay cruise missiles and an advanced Theatre air defence system which can be aegis which has been offered by USA.Possibly brahmos block-2 if its ready.
3 out these 4 i think would be used in a CBG air defence role with their advanced anti air capabilities.
About frigates.
6 Talwar class.
Equipped with torpedos,depth charges,SHTIL-1 SAMs and kashtan air defence complex.And asw helicopter
The difference being 1st 3 have Klub ASM ,the last 3 starting from teg have the Brahmos.
3 p-17 Shivalik class[2 commisioned,last to be late this year]
10 P-17A class[7 cleared and some construction begun,2 not yet cleared]
Armament is mostly depth charge Rlaunchers,torpedos,2 helicopters for ASW,brahmos cruise missiles,shtil-1 air defence system for long range defence and clsoe range kashtan sytem with barak-1 SR SAM.
For P-17a Class well aegis has been offered,but i don't think will be installed on too many ships 1 or 2 per CBG.Nothing much is known about armament.
Now onto the corvettes.
Currently 24 corvettes serve under the navy.12 of these will be replaced by the new project 28 class staring 2012.
These are armed with klub-n cruise missiles,torpedos,depthchareg rocket launchers,kashtan CIWS,barak SAM and even a ASW helicopter.
The relatively weaker point will remain the submarine arm.
6 scorpenes.[under construction]
6 Amur/scorpene/u-214[tender on]
1-2 akula -2 class SSN.[we paid for 2,1 in service.Status of other unknown]
3 arihant class SSBNs
Rest remaining kilo class subs.
So 13-14 front line combat units and kilos as reserves i think.
The aviation arm will have 12 p-8 poseidon MPA.12 upgraded tu-142s.
Other than this smaller dornier patrol aircraft.
1-2 squadrons of brahmos armed su-30s,probably a few AWacs and couple of squadrons of jaguars for maritime duty[will be phased out eventually].
So I count
3 aircraft carriers,7 destroyers,18 frigates,24 corvettes,12 SSKs,1/2 SSNs and 3 SSBNs as frontline comabt units plus kilos in reserve.
This may not seem to be a great expansion on the current indian navy setup at first sight but the main thing is the massive increase in tonnage.
Take for example the 12 new 'corvettes'.These will replace 455 ton ships with around 3000 ton ships which should actually be designated frigates[2000+ tonnes].These will each have an ASW helicopter a great increase in ASW capability.
The 5 5000 ton rajput class destroyers and 3 6200 ton delhi class will be replaced by 7000 ton kolkata class destroyers.
As for the frigates.The talwar class ships are are 4100 tons currently the largest frigates in the IN.Larger than the godavari and the brahmaputra classes by 300-400 tons.
The shivalik class are actually 6200 tons,far larger than the rajput class destroyers and equal of the delhi class!The p-17a will be even heavier.The shivalik is closer to destroyer than frigate.
All in all future is good for Indian navy.
