future of INS Viraat after it's retirement may be at 2018

what happens to INS Viraat after it's retirement may be by 2018. will go for 5th major refit to extend it's service or after 2018 will it be completely refit and make a new carrier out of it, just like Admiral Gorshkov and Varyaag getting second life, can INS Viraat get third life ?

India is now capable of building it's own aircraft carriers like newly built Vikrant which is almost finished in by Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL). So can Viraat be renewed completely.

another question :- building brand new aircraft carrier and completely refitting old carrier which will cost the most and the fast (completion),

No if any refit is possible the it should be refit but after decommissioning and then given to any interested party or ally, I look at Vietnam.

we are in need of more carriers , so if we could give it to Vietnam for recycling and using, why can we use it ourselves. i would appreciate the choice of giving it to Vietnam but our requirements are much more demanding.

Their will be no harriers jump jets to opearte by 2018 and brits dont have either, Virrat can be update with a longer deck if possible so Mig-29k can be operated but i doubt that will happen, IN looking at IAC1 & 2 With Vikramaditya in future..

does India care to buy any American super carrier after their decommission

Nope we are getting spanking new carriers IAC 1,2,3 plus gorshkov. If we need more, it will be new indigenous ones probably nuclear powered than sticking with Viraat.

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Plus Gorshkov?

Hi mahesh,
An equipment or system such as a warship beyond a certain point of time of operating becomes economical unfeasible to operate thereafter so is the retirement.

Should be possible but not feasible

It will depend upon the amount of refitting required on the ship, if u get a ready made hull for the exact purpose its a Bingo, all you might need is to carry on with further works of fitting the equipment and systems on it. But if it is a half carrier like that of Admiral Gorshkov you will need to cut steel for making space, remove unnecessary equipment, add on the super structure, this is definitely going to increase cost and time, the expense of refitting will depend on the amount and nature of refit required. Refitting an old carrier will be depended on feasibility study so refitting an old carrier should cost less then a brand new carrier,

just take an example in practical life: a crumpled car, a man will make a feasibility study upon its cost of repairing and value for money from it and decide either to repair it or go for a new car with consent of his available budget.

I don't think India will be interested to buy a peace ship for its navy, She requires warships it is believed that INS Jalashwa is sold to India with an assurance not to engage her(INS Jalashwa) in war time use, The US navy is not known to trade her aircraft carriers either because US wont permit it going for war tie duties which defeats its purpose of buying or US don't have have a policy to sell aircraft carriers.

If the ship is still sea worthy then we will not decommission it . It can be used as a helicopter carrier or a large missile carrier or a vessel to carry thousands of our new Indian army marine brigade soldiers

It can also be used for carrying Big radars and SAM batteries which take space on other ships

It is a big ship so it has plenty of capacity .The engines and the hull are the main items whether they have enough life left

Virat by its sheer size will be a useful member of any battle groups

Lastly, for the navy BIG ships have enormous sentimental value

If you guys remember INS Vikrant was not decommissioned in a hurry . Vikrant was used till its last possible day

Can American allow us to fit Indian, Russian, Israeli hardware instead of American ?

They dont..

Usually the metal of the hull becomes rusted and so it loses its properties and also becomes thinner. They use an echo system to gauge the thickness of the hull if it goes beyond some measurement the ship is considered unfit but our carriers are definitely over used and need to be retired.

What is the need of fitting Indian, Israeli hardwares if American weapons are superior ?

P.S. We dont need another second hand aircraft carrier. If we want we can build one.

We can use it as helicopter carrier in case of war. We can launch coastal assault using LCH or Apache from its deck.

Carriers mate.. IN has indicated a requirement for 3 Vikrant Class carriers and Gorshkov will be joining soon. We will have a 4 carrier force in the future.

May not be superior or inferior..

But more control on they sytem knowing the codes and architecture to modify as per need in-county also its cheaper..

IN is offered agais defense system but we too Israeli AESA..
We can, but age factor is their too..

Though HAL is already working on a naval varient of LCH for the need..