Future indian navy by 2020

Russia is buying 4 Mistrals from France at $300 million apiece - I think it is time India does the same. Enough of this "RFI for LHDs" - there are only a handful of companies who make LHDs - Mistral is one of the best and fits nicely in the IN doctrine - just get with it and buy 4-5.

Buy aircraft carrier for just Pound 3.5 million

Cash-strapped Britain is putting an aircraft carrier, warships, helicopters as well as battle fortified Land Rovers on the market for a song.

Under an almost distress sale to plug a gaping £36 billion hole in the ministry of defence's budget, the price of the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal built at a cost of £200 million has dipped to a ridiculous level of £3.5 million.
Also on offer at almost throwaway prices are Type 22 frigates costing £400 million each at £300,000, destroyers at just a million pounds, the Daily Mail reported quoting senior officials.

It's not only the naval weaponry that is up for grabs, but also the 13 gazelle helicopters which cost almost five million to build apiece are being sold at just £100,000.

Senior military officers are said to be furious at the sell-offs, which they claim are giving away quality defence equipment while the forces need everything they can get.



Buy aircraft carrier for just Pound 3.5 million - The Times of India

^^^ Can we bid for HMS Ark Royal now???

IN - let's go and get these ...

Rs 3L cr plan to boost India's naval might


NEW DELHI: Jostling for the same strategic space with China in the Indian Ocean and beyond, with the oil exploration stand-off in South China Sea being just the latest indicator, India is slowly but surely building a Navy for the future.

A powerful three-dimensional Navy, which can protect India's geo-strategic interests stretching from Hormuz Strait to Malacca Strait, will not come cheap. Neither will it be built overnight.

Calculations show ongoing warship, submarine and maritime aircraft acquisition programmes as well as some concrete projects in the pipeline will together cost well upwards of Rs 300,000 crore.

When Admiral Nirmal Verma on Saturday commissions the second fleet tanker from Italy, the 27,500-tonne INS Shakti, Navy's force-levels will stand at 132 ships, with just over 50 "major combatants" and 14 ageing submarines.

But the numbers will dip in the coming months, with older ships slated for retirement. China, in contrast, has close to 100 major warships and over 60 submarines, and is now increasingly flexing its muscles in international waters.

India cannot hope to match it. The good news, however, is there are 46 ships "on order" for Navy at different domestic shipyards, along with aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (refitted Admiral Gorshkov) and three Talwar-class stealth frigates being built in Russia, say defence ministry sources.

Ranging from two aircraft carriers, six submarines and seven guided-missile destroyers to four anti-submarine warfare corvettes, nine naval off-shore patrol vessels and eight amphibious craft, the combined price tag for these 50 ships comes to over Rs 100,000 crore.

There are also two other major projects taking concrete shape now. One, the Rs 52,000 crore `Project-75India' to acquire six new-generation stealth submarines, equipped with land-attack missiles and air-independent propulsion, for which the global tender is now in the final stages. Six Scorpene submarines are already being constructed at Mumbai-based Mazagon Docks (MDL) for Rs 23,562 crore.

Then, seven more stealth frigates are to be built at MDL and GRSE (Kolkata) under Project-17A for around Rs 45,000 crore. This will follow the three 6,200-tonne stealth frigates built at MDL for Rs 8,101 crore, INS Shivalik, INS Satpura and INS Sahyadri, with only the last now left to be delivered.

Navy is also going in for new carrier-borne fighter jets and maritime patrol aircraft as well as multi-role helicopters and spy drones, which together will cost around Rs 85,000 crore. These include 45 Russian MiG-29Ks for $2 billion and 12 American P-8I long-range reconnaissance aircraft for over $3 billion.

The biggest warships currently under construction are the 44,570-tonne Vikramaditya and the 40,000-tonne indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) being built at Cochin Shipyard.

With Vikramaditya to be inducted by early-2013 and IAC by 2015, India hopes to deploy two potent carrier battle-groups by the middle of this decade. Another lethal punch will come when India's own nuclear submarine, the over 6,000-tonne INS Arihant being built at Vizag, becomes operational next year.

Rs 3L cr plan to boost India's naval might - The Times of India

Navy inks Rs 2,200cr deal for 8 amphibious vessels

The Navy has inked the Rs 2,176-crore contract for the manufacture of eight specialized vessels or LCUs (landing craft utility) by the Kolkata-based GRSE shipyard to boost its amphibious warfare and island protection capabilities.

The Cabinet Committee on Security recently cleared the LCU project for the eight amphibious vessels, which are likely to be based at India's first and only regional `theatre command' at the strategically-located Andaman and Nicobar Islands, as was reported by TOI earlier.

"The first of the 800-tonne LCU, propelled by two diesel engines, is likely to be delivered in 35 months," said an official.

Another naval project to acquire four huge amphibious warfare ships or Landing Platform Docks (LPDs), for around Rs 16,000 crore, is also on the verge of being finalized by the defence ministry.

The LCUs and LPDs will help in swiftly transporting thousands of troops, tanks, infantry combat vehicles and other weapon systems over long distances to take the battle right to the enemy mainland.

The armed forces have been sharpening their amphibious warfare skills with a series of exercises over the last few years to practice blitzkrieg assaults on enemy territory from the sea.



Navy inks Rs 2,200cr deal for 8 amphibious vessels - The Times of India

Navy packs a punch with stealth frigate INS Teg

India is all set to add another swift but silent lethal punch to its blue-water arsenal by inducting a new stealth frigate with weapons and sensors for three-dimensional warfare.

The 3,970-tonne INS Teg frigate, armed with the 290-km BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles among other weapon systems, will be commissioned into the Indian Navy at Yantar shipyard at Kaliningrad in Russia on Friday morning.

Taking its name from the short, single-edged curved swords traditionally used by the Sikhs, INS Teg will be inducted in the presence of Southern Naval Command chief Vice-Admiral K N Sushil. Commanded by Captain Rakesh Kumar Dahiya, the frigate will sail with a crew of 24 officers and 229 sailors.

The other two stealth frigates, INS Tarkash and INS Trikand, ordered from Russia under a $1.15-billion contract inked in 2006, will follow in September, 2012, and July, 2013, said sources.

With an operating range of 4,500 nautical miles, these Teg-class frigates can handle many threats in all the three dimensions - air, surface and underwater. These warships pack more power than the earlier three Talwar-class frigates inducted from Russia in 2003-04, equipped as they are with BrahMos land-attack missiles, surface-to-air missiles, AK-630 close-in weapon systems, torpedoes, anti-submarine rockets and an upgraded multi-role combat suite.

The 125-metre-long INS Teg, which can operate an anti-submarine or early-warning helicopter from its deck, has innovative design features to ensure reduction in its radar cross-section, infra-red, magnetic and acoustic signatures as well as radiated underwater noise to enhance its stealthy nature.

Powered by advanced gas-turbine propulsion plants for speeds of 30 knots, the warship is also equipped with complex automated systems for NBC (nuclear, biological and chemical) defence and damage control. These three frigates and aircraft carrier INS Vikramditya (Admiral Gorshkov), which will be inducted from Russia in early-2013 under a revised refit cost of $2.33 billion, are the only warships among the 50 ordered by the Navy that will come from abroad.



Navy packs a punch with stealth frigate INS Teg - The Times of India

Kolkata class destroyers - Pic taken on Aug, 2011