INS Vikrant Aircraft Carrier (IAC)

[Shaitan]

Old pictures Kunal. Posted way back.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Coz there were no new pics..

 

[Armand2REP]

Is Vikrant still sitting on the pier with no work being done?

 

[Shaitan]

Coz there were no new pics..

You should date the pics for the people that don't know.

Is Vikrant still sitting on the pier with no work being done?

Not sure.

Old pic

 

[uss]

Is Vikrant still sitting on the pier with no work being done?

Armand, as per recent reports the new gear boxes has reached & they have already started working on it.

Gorshkov will be commissioned by 2013-end: Navy chief | idrw.org
The Hindu : News / National : Antony wants indigenous aircraft carrier delivered soon

 

[average american]

Why Carriers Are So Damn Expensive
by James Dunnigan
December 6, 2012
American nuclear aircraft carriers are expensive to operate. It's not just the food and other supplies for the 5,600 people on board, or all the spare parts and fuel for the aircraft. A major expense is the periodic upgrades and refurbishments. For example, the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) will complete its mid-life refurbishment and refueling early next year. This RCOH (Refueling and Complex Overhaul) took over three years and cost $3.2 billion. The RCOH requires that the ship be partially dismantled so that the spent nuclear fuel can be replaced. This takes a little longer than your usual DPIA (Dry-docking Planned Incremental Availabilities) and usually costs a billion dollars or more. The Roosevelt RCOH was so expensive because the four screws (underwater propellers that move the ship) were replaced, as was much of the "island" (that tall structure on the side of the flight deck). There were upgrades to living quarters, electronics, and the usual replacement of worn out electrical and mechanical components. The ship is repainted inside and out and returning sailors feel like they are entering a new ship, not one that has already seen over two decades of hard use.
The Roosevelt entered service in 1986, and has averaged some 500 aircraft take offs a month since then. In practical terms, the average is closer to 900 a month (about 30 a day) when deployed, because the carrier spends nearly half its time in port or going through periodic overhauls. During intense combat operations there can be nearly a hundred catapult launches a day. The carrier has four steam powered catapults.

There is a lot of shipyard maintenance involved with CVNs, enough to keep these carriers unavailable for over 20 percent of their career. Over its fifty years of service, each Nimitz class carrier has 17 planned trips back to the ship yard. There are twelve Planned Incremental Availability (or PIA) operations in which new gear is installed, worn or damaged stuff is replaced, and any heavy duty work needed is completed. Duration of a PIA varies with the amount of work to be done but it can take several months or a year or more. Even more lengthy are the four DPIA operations, which are more extensive PIAs that include putting the ship into dry dock. These efforts can last a year or two. Then there is the one RCOH. The cost of all these visits to the shipyard cost more than the initial construction of the carrier.

That cost is one reason the U.S. Navy disbanded one of its ten Carrier Strike Groups (CSGs) last year, leaving only nine of them for the eleven aircraft carriers in service. CSGs contain 7,500 people, 75 warplanes and four surface warships, a nuclear sub, and several supply ships. When a carrier is out-of-action, the CSG really has nothing to do. Disbanding one is a money saving measure because nuclear powered aircraft (CVN) carriers spend so much of their time out-of-service having maintenance done. Thus only 8-9 CSGs are needed at any one time.

A carrier strike force is actually a complex organization. There is the CVN and its crew, and the CAW (Carrier Air Wing), which includes all the aircraft, pilots, and support personnel. The CAWs do not stay with the same CVN but move around. When a CVN goes in for maintenance its CAW will move ashore and then to another carrier (usually one coming out of dry dock). Also part of a SCG are the escort ships (usually a destroyer squadron of 2-4 destroyers, cruisers, or frigates) and one or two SSNs (nuclear attack subs). There are also one or two supply ships (carrying spare parts and maintenance personnel for all ships, as well as fuel for the escort ships).

Until a few years ago, the U.S. had twelve carriers but new ones are not being built quickly enough to replace the older ones that must retire (because of old age). Soon there will only be nine CVNs and there will be cost cutting pressure to disband another SCG.

 

[Defcon 1]

^^
Good article, although I think you should have posted it in the naval warfare section rather than here.

 

[Snuggy321]

Is Vikrant still sitting on the pier with no work being done?

No she is in the drydock again, at least 3 weeks ago when I was in Kochi

 

[Armand2REP]

Armand, as per recent reports the new gear boxes has reached & they have already started working on it.

Gorshkov will be commissioned by 2013-end: Navy chief | idrw.org
The Hindu : News / National : Antony wants indigenous aircraft carrier delivered soon

Nice, so the Vikrant is back in dry dock?

 

[Kunal Biswas]

No she is in the drydock again, at least 3 weeks ago when I was in Kochi

Nice, so the Vikrant is back in dry dock?

I guess that what he said..

 

[Armand2REP]

I guess that what he said..

I just haven't seen any pictures. Usually DFI members document when available. It is why I like it.

 

[pmaitra]

No she is in the drydock again, at least 3 weeks ago when I was in Kochi

You should have clicked a photo with your cell phone. Anyway, good news.

 

[AVERAGE INDIAN]

i think the much smaller submarine nuclear reactor can be easily fit into the IAC 2 carrier

 

[Shaitan]

Taken by @Jimmydefence on December 12, 2012. Vikrants hull is still floating.

 

[pmaitra]

Ahhh, am I the only one tired of seeing the same picture for the last several months?



Let me know when something different happens, and no, that does not mean a raft floating in front of the hull.

 

[Shaitan]

Ahhh, am I the only one tired of seeing the same picture for the last several months?



Let me know when something different happens, and no, that does not mean a raft floating in front of the hull.

I will keep you posted with floating hull pics till 2050 @pmaitra

 

[pmaitra]

I will keep you posted with floating hulling pics till 2050 @pmaitra

Aaargh, no, no, Lord have mercy!

:why: :why: :why:

 

[Armand2REP]

Taken by @Jimmydefence on December 12, 2012. Vikrants hull is still floating.

So what are all these stories of being back in dry dock? Clearly not!

 

[pmaitra]

So what are all these stories of being back in dry dock? Clearly not!

Not sure when this picture was taken, but if 12/12/2012 is correct, then those stories are false. The other unrealistic possibility is that they keep towing it in and out of the dry dock every week.

 

[Shaitan]

Aircraft carrier construction to resume soon


Construction of the indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) is likely to resume soon at the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) here, one year after it was floated out, on completion of a significant portion of the outer structure.

The vessel will be brought back to the building dock of the CSL early next month for completing the remaining part of the first phase of the project like fitting of gear boxes and diesel alternators, official sources told TOI here.

There were problems with the reduction gear box supplied by the Gujarat-based Elecon Engineering. But the new set of gear boxes and diesel alternators have already arrived here.

"Together they weigh about 900 tonnes. Their fitting as well as completion of the remaining work in the first phase would take about a year," the sources said.

Meanwhile, top officials of the Indian Navy, CSL, and the ministries of defence and shipping had a meeting in New Delhi on November 21 to work out the schedule and cost estimates for completing the remaining part of the IAC construction.

Defence minister A K Antony, who chaired the meeting, has reportedly asked a joint panel of these agencies to prepare a roadmap for the delivery of the IAC within a month. Antony has insisted that the new schedule must strictly be adhered to and accountability must be fixed for any further delays.

However, defence experts here point out that there are wide differences in the cost estimates of the Navy and CSL and finding a consensus within a short time-frame could prove a tough task. The first phase cost was Rs 1,160 crore, while the second phase cost is yet to be announced.

The contract for beginning the second phase of the work could be signed by the Navy and CSL only after a consensus on cost estimates was reached between them.

As per the original plan, the IAC was to be inducted into the Navy in 2014-15. But, as per broadly agreed revised schedule, its delivery would take place only in 2016 and the trails would take another two years.