INS Viraat heads for 5-month long refit, setback for Navy

[anup]

It looks as if India's plan to have three carrier battle groups, centred around INS Viraat, INS Vikramaditya and an indigenously built aircraft carrier in Cochin shipyard, has suffered a huge setback, reports RS Chauhan

The Indian Navy will be without an operational aircraft carrier for over four months between November and March 2013 as the lone and ageing INS Viraat heads for a longer refit to Cochin very soon, top sources in the naval headquarters say.

The naval HQ has told the defence ministry that the delay in delivery of INS Vikramaditya (Admiral Gorshkov) from Russia has made it imperative for the Navy to prolong the lifespan of India's lone aircraft carrier, INS Viraat.

INS Viraat, formerly HMS Hermes, a British ship, is over half a century old and has undergone several upgrades and life extensions, as India has been unable to either build its own carrier or get the Russians to deliver one for the past eight years.

With the latest schedule for a longer refit to be carried out at the Cochin Shipyard, INS Viraat will be out of action till late March-early April, the sources said.

 

[chairborne ranger]

It looks as if India's plan to have three carrier battle groups, centred around INS Viraat, INS Vikramaditya and an indigenously built aircraft carrier in Cochin shipyard, has suffered a huge setback, reports RS Chauhan

The Indian Navy will be without an operational aircraft carrier for over four months between November and March 2013 as the lone and ageing INS Viraat heads for a longer refit to Cochin very soon, top sources in the naval headquarters say.

The naval HQ has told the defence ministry that the delay in delivery of INS Vikramaditya (Admiral Gorshkov) from Russia has made it imperative for the Navy to prolong the lifespan of India's lone aircraft carrier, INS Viraat.

INS Viraat, formerly HMS Hermes, a British ship, is over half a century old and has undergone several upgrades and life extensions, as India has been unable to either build its own carrier or get the Russians to deliver one for the past eight years.



With the latest schedule for a longer refit to be carried out at the Cochin Shipyard, INS Viraat will be out of action till late March-early April, the sources said.

i thought the last one was supposed to extend life to 2018. What's this one for?

 

[T90TankGuy]

It looks as if India's plan to have three carrier battle groups, centred around INS Viraat, INS Vikramaditya and an indigenously built aircraft carrier in Cochin shipyard, has suffered a huge setback, reports RS Chauhan

The Indian Navy will be without an operational aircraft carrier for over four months between November and March 2013 as the lone and ageing INS Viraat heads for a longer refit to Cochin very soon, top sources in the naval headquarters say.

The naval HQ has told the defence ministry that the delay in delivery of INS Vikramaditya (Admiral Gorshkov) from Russia has made it imperative for the Navy to prolong the lifespan of India's lone aircraft carrier, INS Viraat.

INS Viraat, formerly HMS Hermes, a British ship, is over half a century old and has undergone several upgrades and life extensions, as India has been unable to either build its own carrier or get the Russians to deliver one for the past eight years.

With the latest schedule for a longer refit to be carried out at the Cochin Shipyard, INS Viraat will be out of action till late March-early April, the sources said.

link would be helpful mate

 

[arp2041]

IMHO, we should not drag the ageing AC any further, pls retire this one as i think it's taking more time in the refit (Hospital) than at sea (workplace). Just for the sake of being a Carrier Navy we have taken INS viraat this far. It's better to utilize the money for the refit to build a new Frigate, Destroyer, etc.

 

[KRAIT]

IMHO, we should not drag the ageing AC any further, pls retire this one as i think it's taking more time in the refit (Hospital) than at sea (workplace). Just for the sake of being a Carrier Navy we have taken INS viraat this far. It's better to utilize the money for the refit to build a new Frigate, Destroyer, etc.

And how will you train sailors to operate Aircraft Carriers. We can't have a gap in organizational training on operational ACC. The training means a lot. This is the major role of Vikrant. Instead of making it a museum, we can use it as training school as we have during the peace time.

It also helps in keeping the CBG operational training. You can't organise and operate a CBG without an ACC. So will should keep running Vikrant. The repair is worth the experience gained and the knowledge.

China has its ACC before us but to master ACC operationalization will take years.

 

[arp2041]

And how will you train sailors to operate Aircraft Carriers. We can't have a gap in organizational training on operational ACC. The training means a lot. This is the major role of Vikrant. Instead of making it a museum, we can use it as training school as we have during the peace time.

It also helps in keeping the CBG operational training. You can't organise and operate a CBG without an ACC. So will should keep running Vikrant. The repair is worth the experience gained and the knowledge.

China has its ACC before us but to master ACC operationalization will take years.

Yup, u are somewhat correct. But we are not using INS Viraat as a training ship, training for operating INS Vikramaditya is going on in Russia on INS Viky itself, the sailors & pilots are going there in batches for the training. Anyways Viraat is a VSTOL carrier, on the other hand INS viky is a STOBAR carrier & also every future carrier of IN will be CATOBAR or say EMALS based, so Viraat doesn't fit in the training program here. If u are talking about the most basic training in operating a carrier than yes we can still use INS Viraat, but than again we can always send our sailors to foreign countries as we have good relations with many countries in military sphere.


+ I am 100% sure that IN is not decommissioning INS Viraat b'coz it is finding hard to strip away the title of a "carrier navy" even if it is for just few months since INS Viky is due to arrive in 2013.

 

[Sergi]

And how will you train sailors to operate Aircraft Carriers. We can't have a gap in organizational training on operational ACC. The training means a lot. This is the major role of Vikrant. Instead of making it a museum, we can use it as training school as we have during the peace time.

It also helps in keeping the CBG operational training. You can't organise and operate a CBG without an ACC. So will should keep running Vikrant. The repair is worth the experience gained and the knowledge.

China has its ACC before us but to master ACC operationalization will take years.

Sailors aren't train on ACC directly. And after all it's ship just a VERY BIG ship. So problem isn't really about sailors training.
And as far as pilots are concerned they are allowed to land on ACC only after they qualify the landing and take off on simulatoer and then on " on shore facilities",
Training pilots on actual ACC will be a disaster. Only qualified pilots after passing off shore facilities are allowed to land and take off.

 

[KRAIT]

Yup, u are somewhat correct. But we are not using INS Viraat as a training ship, training for operating INS Vikramaditya is going on in Russia on INS Viky itself, the sailors & pilots are going there in batches for the training. Anyways Viraat is a VSTOL carrier, on the other hand INS viky is a STOBAR carrier & also every future carrier of IN will be CATOBAR or say EMALS based, so Viraat doesn't fit in the training program here. If u are talking about the most basic training in operating a carrier than yes we can still use INS Viraat, but than again we can always send our sailors to foreign countries as we have good relations with many countries in military sphere.


+ I am 100% sure that IN is not decommissioning INS Viraat b'coz it is finding hard to strip away the title of a "carrier navy" even if it is for just few months since INS Viky is due to arrive in 2013.

Agreed but my take is from navigation officer on INS Viraat. The importance of operating carrier is very important. The aircraft is one part of ACC. There are other aspects too.

The senior ones who have worked on INS Viraat will work on INS Viki. So we have to keep ready the sailors. More experienced they are more better. Viraat after Viki will be great addition to train sailors at basi emergencies and war preparation.

As I said, ACC alone is not case. Training sailors of ACC operation and with other ships in CBG is whole different game.

There is a whole lo of reasons to keep it running. Virrat has only 6 harrier left but it can easily be used as LHD.

 

[Fireaxe888]

This isn't news - carriers need to be refitted on a regular basis. One of the US Navy's c.10 carriers in pretty much always in a mid-life refit.