MUMBAI: The Navy on Monday launched the Scorpene-class submarine Vela, the fourth of six underwater warships being built in India with French collaboration, with an aim to boost Indian capability to defend and secure the strategic sea lanes.
The Vela submarine will undergo a number of tests conducted by the Navy before it is commissioned in the defence fleet, an official said.
Defence production secretary Ajay Kumar's wife Veena Ajay Kumar launched the submarine at Mazagon Dockyard in Mumbai.
The state-owned Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited has entered into a contract for construction and transfer of technology for six Scorpene-class subs with French collaborator Ms Naval Group (formerly DCNS). INS Vela is the fourth in that series.
The fifth Scorpene-class submarine will be launched soon, an MDL official said.
Before Vela, MDL launched Kalvari, Khanderi, Karanj submarines.
While Kalvari has been commissioned, the others are at various levels of trials and tests.
INS Vela was first commissioned on August 31, 1973 in the Indian Naval Service and continued to serve for 37 years. It was the country's oldest submarine when it was decommissioned on June 25, 2010, MDL said in a statement.
"Today, we are bringing the new Vela with modern machinery and technology to guard the seas," the MDL official said.
Eight warships and five submarines are under construction at MDL, the company said, adding the submarines' capacity includes anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare.
Addressing a gathering at the Mazagon dock, defence production secretary Kumar said, "MDL was the first shipyard in the country to build submarines way back in 1992, when the dock built INS Shalki."
The first submarine in the Scorpene class, INS Kalvari, has been commissioned, and the second is on the cusp of delivery, he said.
The third submarine has successfully completed its deep diving trials and with the launch of the fourth on Monday, the MDL has retained the world-class skills required for submarine construction, he said.
An English tabloid newspaper reports India is interested in building a carrier based on the design of the new UK carriers. Any chance of this going anywhere?
Sure thing. IAC-2 has been envisioned as 65000 ton vessel, right on target for QE design. BAE was one of the companies Indians have asked design assistance for new carrier.
In December, IN said that IAC-2 has "moved ahead" which I take means they have either finalized the design or at least settled on requirements, allowing them to proceed with foreign design teams. One option has been to build a second copy of the IAC-1 instead of a larger CATOBAR ship. But I think they will go ahead with a larger ship, and BAE is probably strongest forerunner here. Russians haven't build a new carrier for decades, French and Italian designs are much smaller, US ones much larger and all-nuke.
The biggest carrier the French have built is 42500 tons, but the UK jumped from no carrier bigger than 22500 tons built in the previous 50 years, & the biggest put into service being the same size as Charles de Gaulle, to the QE class, & the French have the advantage of having been involved for a while in the QE project. They should be able to do it, & could have advantages if it's intended to be cat & trap.
[USER="7019"]swerve[/USER] - Yeah, but even the de Gaulle's construction was pretty far back now. The UK truly has recent experience. It would be hard to argue against them from a capability standpoint.
Sure thing. IAC-2 has been envisioned as 65000 ton vessel, right on target for QE design. BAE was one of the companies Indians have asked design assistance for new carrier.
In December, IN said that IAC-2 has "moved ahead" which I take means they have either finalized the design or at least settled on requirements, allowing them to proceed with foreign design teams. One option has been to build a second copy of the IAC-1 instead of a larger CATOBAR ship. But I think they will go ahead with a larger ship, and BAE is probably strongest forerunner here. Russians haven't build a new carrier for decades, French and Italian designs are much smaller, US ones much larger and all-nuke.
Feel like I just read the other day that IAC-2 has been pushed back several years due to funding. That no decision will be made on Vishal until 2022.
By: JangBoGo
- 11th May 2019 at 19:21Permalink- Edited 11th May 2019 at 19:23
Commander-in-Chief meets his Carrier Air Wing - VAdm P Ajit Kumar FOC-in-C(W) greets the 'Black Panthers' Sqn on their 6th anniversary & gets airborne with 'White Tigers' on a MiG 29K at INS Hansa, Dabolim to review their Op readiness. Happy Anniversary Black Panthers 1/2
He interacted with the aircrew and congratulated them on their 6th anniversary 2/2
[USER="7019"]swerve[/USER] - Yeah, but even the de Gaulle's construction was pretty far back now. The UK truly has recent experience. It would be hard to argue against them from a capability standpoint.
The French didn't cut any metal, but they bought into the CVF project for a while with a view to building their own cat & trap version, & contributed some design elements which the RN incorporated into QE & PoW. So they've done a bit more recent work. I think they've also kept coming up with design studies for an eventual CdG replacement.
An English tabloid newspaper reports India is interested in building a carrier based on the design of the new UK carriers. Any chance of this going anywhere?
In my opinion India acquiring the CVF (HMS Queen Elizabeth) Design from the UK would be a very smart move. Yet, if it will actually happen is another matter....
Research into the F-18 ski Jump suitability predates the IN interest or even the F-18 E/F. Simulations were completed and research was submitted to the AIAA which means it was anything but B.S. The more recent study was computer modeling the E/F suitability at various weights from a ski jump. This was an academic paper I posted the link here awhile back. No longer on Google scholar though. I'll have to search my posts.
Here is the old one (if you can access AIAA)
AIAA paper 1732 Simulator Evaluation of F/A-18 Ski Jump - B.L. DOUGHERTY and D.R. ROLSTON
Untill the STO facility was ready at Goa, every single manufacturer were claiming that they can successfully do a ski ramp take off. And now, when it is ready, no one is coming forth with their aircraft to show it off.
The first promo instance was that of E-2 able to operate from VKD.
Then came Rafale, F-18s.
Now that STO facility is operational (for quite a few years), rather than advertise ski ramp capablity through media, just demonstrate it making use of the excellent STO facility at Goa.
The French could have avoided a lot of media promo hardwork for Rafale, if they had just demonstrated Rafales ski ramp capability at STO during the recently concluded Indo-French exercises.
The benchmark could be the 5,500Kg payload capability the MiG-29K/KUB demonstrated from the decks of VKD during trials.
Posts: 3,337
By: BlackArcher - 6th May 2019 at 19:15 Permalink
INS Vela, Indian Navy's 4th Scorpene submarine was launched.
INS Vela, Indian Navy's 4th Scorpene class submarine launched
Posts: 9,579
By: TR1 - 8th May 2019 at 03:19 Permalink
https://www.janes.com/article/88324/indian-mod-approves-procurement-of-10-more-ka-31-helos
India buying another 10 Ka-31, 500 million USD deal.
Posts: 621
By: Yama - 8th May 2019 at 10:28 Permalink
They're planning to operate AEW helicopter off from frigate? Interesting.
Posts: 2,626
By: Spitfire9 - 9th May 2019 at 06:28 Permalink
An English tabloid newspaper reports India is interested in building a carrier based on the design of the new UK carriers. Any chance of this going anywhere?
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/india-building-copycat-version-britains-14997455
Posts: 621
By: Yama - 9th May 2019 at 09:05 Permalink
Sure thing. IAC-2 has been envisioned as 65000 ton vessel, right on target for QE design. BAE was one of the companies Indians have asked design assistance for new carrier.
In December, IN said that IAC-2 has "moved ahead" which I take means they have either finalized the design or at least settled on requirements, allowing them to proceed with foreign design teams. One option has been to build a second copy of the IAC-1 instead of a larger CATOBAR ship. But I think they will go ahead with a larger ship, and BAE is probably strongest forerunner here. Russians haven't build a new carrier for decades, French and Italian designs are much smaller, US ones much larger and all-nuke.
Posts: 13,432
By: swerve - 9th May 2019 at 13:05 Permalink
The biggest carrier the French have built is 42500 tons, but the UK jumped from no carrier bigger than 22500 tons built in the previous 50 years, & the biggest put into service being the same size as Charles de Gaulle, to the QE class, & the French have the advantage of having been involved for a while in the QE project. They should be able to do it, & could have advantages if it's intended to be cat & trap.
Posts: 333
By: XB-70 - 10th May 2019 at 00:36 Permalink
[USER="7019"]swerve[/USER] - Yeah, but even the de Gaulle's construction was pretty far back now. The UK truly has recent experience. It would be hard to argue against them from a capability standpoint.
Posts: 3,106
By: FBW - 10th May 2019 at 13:08 Permalink
Feel like I just read the other day that IAC-2 has been pushed back several years due to funding. That no decision will be made on Vishal until 2022.
Posts: 3,337
By: BlackArcher - 10th May 2019 at 19:21 Permalink
P-8I with 4 Harpoons
Posts: 1,482
By: JangBoGo - 11th May 2019 at 19:21 Permalink - Edited 11th May 2019 at 19:23
Commander-in-Chief meets his Carrier Air Wing - VAdm P Ajit Kumar FOC-in-C(W) greets the 'Black Panthers' Sqn on their 6th anniversary & gets airborne with 'White Tigers' on a MiG 29K at INS Hansa, Dabolim to review their Op readiness. Happy Anniversary Black Panthers 1/2
He interacted with the aircrew and congratulated them on their 6th anniversary 2/2
https://twitter.com/indiannavy/statu...86593339035648
Posts: 1,482
By: JangBoGo - 11th May 2019 at 19:31 Permalink
Few snaps from Indo-French Naval ExVaruna
Posts: 13,432
By: swerve - 13th May 2019 at 22:56 Permalink
The French didn't cut any metal, but they bought into the CVF project for a while with a view to building their own cat & trap version, & contributed some design elements which the RN incorporated into QE & PoW. So they've done a bit more recent work. I think they've also kept coming up with design studies for an eventual CdG replacement.
Posts: 3,337
By: BlackArcher - 13th May 2019 at 23:04 Permalink
Boeing says Super Hornet fully compatible with IN ski jump carriers
By: Anonymous - 15th May 2019 at 06:31 Permalink
In my opinion India acquiring the CVF (HMS Queen Elizabeth) Design from the UK would be a very smart move. Yet, if it will actually happen is another matter....
By: Anonymous - 15th May 2019 at 06:33 Permalink
Of course it is just like the F-35C...:rolleyes:
Posts: 3,106
By: FBW - 15th May 2019 at 15:01 Permalink
Research into the F-18 ski Jump suitability predates the IN interest or even the F-18 E/F. Simulations were completed and research was submitted to the AIAA which means it was anything but B.S. The more recent study was computer modeling the E/F suitability at various weights from a ski jump. This was an academic paper I posted the link here awhile back. No longer on Google scholar though. I'll have to search my posts.
Here is the old one (if you can access AIAA)
AIAA paper 1732 Simulator Evaluation of F/A-18 Ski Jump - B.L. DOUGHERTY and D.R. ROLSTON
Posts: 3,337
By: BlackArcher - 17th May 2019 at 20:19 Permalink
Posts: 1,482
By: JangBoGo - 16th June 2019 at 16:09 Permalink
Lambo drag race with an Indian Navy MiG-29K
Posts: 1,482
By: JangBoGo - 16th June 2019 at 16:17 Permalink - Edited 16th June 2019 at 16:20
Its must be music to the ears of the faithfuls.
Untill the STO facility was ready at Goa, every single manufacturer were claiming that they can successfully do a ski ramp take off. And now, when it is ready, no one is coming forth with their aircraft to show it off.
The first promo instance was that of E-2 able to operate from VKD.
Then came Rafale, F-18s.
Now that STO facility is operational (for quite a few years), rather than advertise ski ramp capablity through media, just demonstrate it making use of the excellent STO facility at Goa.
The French could have avoided a lot of media promo hardwork for Rafale, if they had just demonstrated Rafales ski ramp capability at STO during the recently concluded Indo-French exercises.
The benchmark could be the 5,500Kg payload capability the MiG-29K/KUB demonstrated from the decks of VKD during trials.