US says making progress in aircraft carrier collaboration with India

[WolfPack86]

India and the United States are making progress in talks on the joint development of an aircraft carrier for India, the top US navy admiral said on Wednesday, potentially the biggest military collaboration between them.

The two countries agreed to work together on aircraft carrier technology as well as jet engines during US President Barack Obama’s visit to India last year in a strengthening of ties to balance China’s expanding military power in the region.

The visiting chief of US Naval Operations, John Richardson, said the two sides had held talks on a range of issues relating to the next generation Indian carrier from its design to construction.

A high-level US-India joint working group is due to meet in New Delhi later this month, part of a series of meetings aimed at establishing broader cooperation on the design, development and production of the proposed Indian carrier.

“We are making very good progress, I am very pleased with the progress to date and optimistic we can do more in the future. That’s on a very solid track,” Richardson told reporters in New Delhi.

India inducted an old aircraft carrier from Russia in 2014 while an ageing British vessel is set to retire this year. It is building an indigenous carrier that is expected to enter service in 2018-2019.

But the navy also plans a third, its biggest carrier yet, for which it has sought US assistance, especially state-of-the-art technology to launch aircraft.

Richardson said the electromagnetic launch technology that enabled a navy to fly heavier planes from a carrier was part of the discussions with India.

“All of those things are on the table, there are possibilities, its a matter of pacing, it’s very new technology for us,” he said.

China has one aircraft carrier and announced last month it is building another. The Pentagon said in a report last year that China could build multiple aircraft carriers over the next 15 years.

India’s navy, which has long considered the Indian Ocean its area of influence, has been unnerved by Chinese naval forays in the region and its efforts to build port infrastructure in countries stretching from Pakistan to Djibouti on the African coast.

After years of neglect, the Indian government has approved the navy’s plans for a dozen new submarines, six of them nuclear-powered. More than 40 warships are under construction.

 

[WolfPack86]

http://defencenews.in/article/US-sa...ircraft-carrier-collaboration-with-India-2577

 

[proud_hindustani]

now India in collaboration with U.S. should build Nimitz class carrier

 

[warrior monk]

Have they even came up with the design of nuclear reactor before starting to design the aircraft carrier if at all it is going to be nuclear. I think they were busy designing the uprated reactor for S5 ,S6 and S7 boomers and for the SSN/SSGN program .

 

[Gessler]

Have they even came up with the design of nuclear reactor before starting to design the aircraft carrier if at all it is going to be nuclear. I think they were busy designing the uprated reactor for S5 ,S6 and S7 boomers and for the SSN/SSGN program .

The reactor to go onboard IAC-2 will be the same as the one being developed for future SSBN class. Ofcourse modified for surface use, but the reactor design will be the same.

It will have a power rating between 180 and 220MWe.

 

[warrior monk]

The reactor to go onboard IAC-2 will be the same as the one being developed for future SSBN class. Ofcourse modified for surface use, but the reactor design will be the same.

It will have a power rating between 180 and 220MWe.

The future SSBN class reactor design is probably going to be the uprated version of Arihant class reactor as the reactor geometry may be modified , the fuel bundles may be increased with increase in diameter of the channels , the fuel chemistry might change for achieving burnup of more than 22000 MWd per fuel loaing , better poison burnup , improvement in coolant channels or even trying to achieve open circulation for lower SL level .
I don't think this this would be easy but it is necessary for a boomer for lowering its SL level as low as possible even to the point of reaching ocean ambient noise , though only US has been successful in it.

I don't think the aforementioned reactor will not have more power than 150 Mwt ( No naval reactor in the world can have a 180-220 MWe power rating), even then the reactor will be first designed for the SSBNs and SSN/SSGNs not for our IAC-2 which will need a significant more powerful reactor but less sophisticated than our boomers and we will need 2 of them .

The reactor will not come even a day before 2027 atleast , most probably post 2030 . So if IAC-2 is nuclear powered then it will not see the light of the day before 2030 minimum probably even later .

 

[sorcerer]

US Unwilling to Offer Help in Nuclear Propulsion Technology for New Warship

NEW DELHI: The bilateral strategic clinch may be getting tighter but the US is unwilling to offer help to India in nuclear propulsion technology for the proposed construction of its largest-ever warship, the 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier INS Vishal.


Even as the joint working group on aircraft carrier technology cooperation (JWGACTC) met in India from February 15 to 18, top defence ministry sources on Friday said the ongoing bilateral discussions did not include "any nuclear propulsion" for INS Vishal.

The second meeting of the JWGACTC, led by Vice admiral G S Pabby (controller warship production and acquisition) and his American counterpart Rear admiral Thomas J Moore (programme executive officer of aircraft carriers), did discuss various aspects of cooperation in technologies connected to aircraft carriers, including EMALS (electromagnetic aircraft launch systems).

But as per the terms of reference for the JWGACTC "only conventional propulsion systems" (gas turbines or diesel-electric systems) are under discussion as of now. "The US has its own export control laws... nuclear propulsion is not on the table," said an MoD source.
The Manohar Parrikar-led defence acquisitions council had sanctioned an initial Rs 30 crore as seed money for INS Vishal in May 2015.

Since then, India has issued RFI (request for information) for design consultancy to several foreign shipyards.

But it is felt nuclear propulsion will make better sense for greater operational endurance. For instance, the maximum range of India's 44,500-tonne carrier INS Vikramaditya is around 7,000 nautical miles. Whereas, the range of an American Nimitz-class supercarrier - the US has 10 of them, all over 100,000 tonnes - is unlimited and it can operate for over 20 years without refueling due to nuclear propulsion.

It will take at least 10-12 years to construct INS Vishal, which is critical towards the plan to build military capabilities to counter China's expanding footprint in the Indian Ocean Region.

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