INS Vikramaditya (Adm Gorshkov) aircraft carrier

Russia tests Indian fighter jets on board its aircraft carrier | Top Russian news and analysis online | 'RIA Novosti' newswire

MOSCOW, September 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's MiG aircraft maker said on Tuesday it has successfully tested on board the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier four MiG-29 carrier-based fighter jets due to be delivered to India.

Russia and India signed a contract on January 20, 2004, stipulating the supply of 12 single-seat MiG-29Ks and four two-seat MiG-29KUBs to India as part of a $1.5 billion deal to deliver the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier, currently being retrofitted in Russia for the Indian navy.

"During the tests on September 28-29, the MiG-29K and MiG-29KUB fighters conducted several take offs and landings on the deck of the [Admiral Kuznetsov] aircraft carrier in the Barents Sea," the company said in a statement.

Admiral Kuznetsov is the only aircraft carrier in the Russian Navy.

The two MiG-29Ks and two MiG-29KUBs were officially transferred to India earlier this year. They were inspected by Indian technical experts and used in a five-month flight training course for the Indian pilots.

The aircrafts are expected to be delivered to India in mid-October.

Meanwhile, Russia and India are still negotiating a new deal on the completion of the Admiral Gorshkov overhaul.

Russia has pledged to finish the Admiral Gorshkov's overhaul as soon as possible and deliver it to India in 2012 if the additional $1.2 bln funding is provided by New Delhi.

After modernization, the carrier will join the Indian Navy as INS Vikramaditya, and is expected to be seaworthy for 30 years.

admiral gorshkov is still better than buying ac even now

just my 2 cents ,
we can have nuke carrier along with nuke subs,nuke cruisers to form a battle group then we can go anywhere :dfi-1:
ps:just my dream dont take it serious

it may ok for expeditionary navies like the USA. india does not have such ambitions atleast for many years to come. what we need is nuke subs for our second strike capabilty which is being fulfilled by our own ATVs.

Why the hell do we need all those fancy nuke ships?...Even France has moved away from making Nuke carriers. A conventional carrier with a good replenishment ship is enough...

I don't think we need anything except submarines to be nuclear powered in the near future. India doesn't have any other major bases outside it's own country and maintaining a nuclear propelled ship is more expensive and not really required in the Indian Navy doctrine. The Indian navies main objective is to safeguard the sea lanes in the Indian ocean and to protect the country of India.

Why because right now the Indian Navy doesn't have a good carrier based aew&c. Only the v-22 aew&c (which is only a paper plane as of now) can take takeoff from the deck of the vikramaditya. The Ka-31's radar has a range of only 200 km and as it's a helicopter it doesn't travel beyond speeds of 200km so it isn't very fast. Remember the Navy wanted the e-2c on the vikramaditya, you can read it here. It was dropped because of non availability of steam catapults. It is more economical to operate steam cats with nuclear power rather than having to burn fuel (which could be used on aircrafts instead) to produce steam.

Even the MASSIVE russian Kuznetsov doesn't operate fixed wing carrier based aew&c but multiple ka-31s simply because of non-availability of steam cats. Have a looks at this:

This is the yak-44, cancelled after the fall the USSR, but in my opinion could have been revived later on...


P.S. Nuclear option is back on the table for the future french carrier.

Copyright Shiv Aroor/LiveFist

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Video of MiG 29K/KUB landing on Adm.Kuznetzova.

Taken from MP.net

even our own ADS wont feature steam catapult because that technology remains with USA and they will not give it to us anytime soon . also due to steam catapult the stress on airframe is large reducing the total airframe life significantly , plus do we really need such large warships when they are very vulnerable to low cost anti ships missile such as our evry own bhramos ???

first learn about the Ship's propulsion system then tell me why we need a nuke powered aircraft carrier....Mate, The ship runs on asphalt furnace that boils the water which turns the steam turbines...so we already have enough steam to operate a single catapult....the gasoline and diesel engine are for the extra boost.

Is this carrier equipped with cruise-missile defence shields?

Pakistan is most likely to go for U-214 subs, which is an awesome conventional submarine. Does this carrier have the capability to detect its presence by itself or it needs assistance of frigates and destroyers?

Every carrier depends on the ASW helicopters on board for submarine hunting and Frigates. Mostly it is done by ASW Corvettes that sail along the CBG and the SSK/SSN in the CBG...Even the Nimitz and Ford class dont have these equipments onboard.

Corvettes don't have the legs to keep up with a CSG (CBG term is outdated). That role is for ASW frigates and destroyers who can keep up with the carrier.

MiGs Successfully Trapped


October 2, 2009: Russia successfully tested four MiG-29s (single and dual seat versions) on their aircraft carrier Kuznetsov. The MiGs made several landings ("traps") and take offs. The aircraft in question are now going to be delivered to India. Another four MiG-29Ks will reach India by the end of the year.

This past February, India received its first four Russian MiG-29K fighters. This is simply a MiG-29 modified to operate from aircraft carriers. The MiG-29K made its first flight last year, about fifteen years later than originally planned. India plans to buy 30-40 of these, for use on two or more aircraft carriers.

It was in the early 1990s that work began on creating a variant of the MiG-29 for carrier use. These were to be used on the Kuznetsov class carriers, which were conceived as 90,000 ton, nuclear powered ships, similar to American carriers (complete with steam catapults). Instead, because of the cost, and the complexity of modern (American style) carriers, the Russians were forced to scale back their goals, and ended up with the 65,000 ton (full load) ships that lacked steam catapults, and used a ski jump type flight deck instead. Nuclear power was dropped, but the Kuznetsov class was still a formidable design.

The thousand foot long carrier ended up carryings a dozen navalized, 33 ton Su-27s (called Su-33s), 14 Ka-27PL anti-submarine helicopters, two electronic warfare helicopters and two search and rescue helicopters. The ship was designed to carry up to 36 Su-33s and sixteen helicopters.

The Su-33 is larger than the MiG-29K, and both types of aircraft were to operate from the three 65,000 ton Kuznetsovs. But when the Cold War ended, only the Kuznetsov was near completion. The second ship in the class, the half built Varyag, was sold to China. The smaller Gorshkov is being rebuilt and sold to India (who believed the smaller MiG-29K was more suitable for this carrier.).

The 21 ton MiG-29K modifications included arrestor gear and stronger landing gear for carrier landings, folding wings, and rust proofing to reduce corrosion from all that salt water. Anti-radar paint is also used, to reduce the radar signature. Fuel capacity was increased 50 percent and more modern electronics installed. A more powerful engine is used, which enabled the aircraft to carry over five tons of weapons (air-to-air and anti-ship missiles, smart bombs). The Indians will operate twelve MiG-29Ks on their refurbished Russian carrier, supported by a pair of two seater MiG-29Ks for training.

Meanwhile, the MiG company is having financial problems because of losing so much business to their competitor Sukhoi, and the Su-27/30 (etc). The MiG-29 has had quality control issues, and currently all the Russian Air Force MiG-29s have been grounded several times this year for investigations to search for design flaws.


Naval Air: MiGs Successfully Trapped