INDIA’S INDIGENOUS AIRCRAFT CARRIER (IAC)

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 INDIA’S INDIGENOUS AIRCRAFT CARRIER (IAC)

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• What it is: An aircraft carrier is a type of warship that carries aircraft for the military. These ships have a flight deck and enough space to carry, arm, and deploy aircraft without needing a local base. The carrier is thus an airfield at sea, with many special features necessitated by limitations in size and the medium in which it operates. 
• Improvisation: To facilitate short takeoffs and landings, airspeeds over the deck are increased by turning the ship into the wind. Catapults flush with the flight deck assist in launching aircraft; for landing, aircraft are fitted with retractable hooks that engage transverse wires on the deck, braking them to a quick stop.
• Earliest carriers: As early as November 1910, an American civilian pilot, Eugene Ely, flew a plane off a specially built platform on the deck of the U.S. cruiser Birmingham at Hampton Roads, Virginia. 
• On January 18, 1911, in San Francisco Bay, Ely landed on a platform built on the quarterdeck of the battleship Pennsylvania, using wires attached to sandbags on the platform as arresting gear; he then took off from the same ship.
• The British navy also experimented with the carrier; during World War I it developed the first true carrier with an unobstructed flight deck, the HMS Argus, built on a converted merchant-ship hull. The war ended before the Argus could be put into action, but the U.S. and Japanese navies quickly followed the British example. The first U.S. carrier, a converted collier renamed the USS Langley, joined the fleet in March 1922. 
• A Japanese carrier, the Hosyo, which entered service in December 1922, was the first carrier designed as such from the keel up.
• USS Langley
• U.S. Navy's first aircraft carrier, 1927
• It was converted in 1920 from a collier, the USS Jupiter
• Pearl Harbour: Carriers were first used in combat during the early stages of World War II. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor by carrier-based planes on December 7, 1941, dramatically demonstrated the potential of the aircraft carrier, which was then the dominant combat vessel of the war. The carrier played leading roles in the sea battles of the Pacific theatre, such as Midway Island, Coral Sea, and Leyte Gulf.
• Three innovations: Carriers built after the second world war were larger and had armoured flight decks. Jet aircraft have a greater weight, slower acceleration, higher landing speeds, and greater fuel consumption. Three British innovations contributed toward handling these practical problems: (i) a steam-powered catapult, (ii) an angled, or canted, flight deck, and (iii) a mirror landing-signal system.
• How many worldwide: As of 2020, there were an estimated 44 aircraft carriers in service worldwide. The United States had 20 aircraft carriers, the highest, followed by Japan and France with four each. Ten other nations have aircraft carriers: Egypt, China, United Kingdom, Italy, South Korea, Australia, Russia, India, Thailand and Spain.
• Decommissioned: One hundred twenty-six aircraft carriers have been decommissioned throughout history. The nation with the highest number of decommissioned aircraft carriers is the United States, which has 55. Next is the United Kingdom, which has 40 that have been decommissioned. France has had seven ships decommissioned, while Japan and the Netherlands have had four. Australia, Spain, and Canada have three each; Argentina, Brazil, and India have had two each, and Russia has one decommissioned ship.
• The India story: The Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) 1, which will be called INS Vikrant once it enters service, is the first aircraft carrier designed and built in India. An aircraft carrier (AC) is the potent marine assets for India, enhancing a Navy’s capability to travel far from its home shores to carry out air domination operations. 
• Blue water navy: An aircraft carrier is essential to be considered a ‘blue water’ navy, one with the capacity to project a nation’s strength and power across the high seas. An aircraft carrier generally leads as the capital ship of a carrier strike/battle group. As the carrier is a valuable and sometimes vulnerable target, it is usually escorted in the group by destroyers, missile cruisers, frigates, submarines, and supply ships.
• Importance of Swadeshi: The IAC-1 has been designed by the Indian Navy’s Directorate of Naval Design (DND), and is being built at Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), a public sector shipyard under the Ministry of Shipping. Few nations currently have the capability of manufacturing an aircraft carrier. India’s earlier aircraft carriers were either built by the British or the Russians. 

1. The INS Vikramaditya, currently the Navy’s only aircraft carrier that was commissioned in 2013, started out as the Soviet-Russian Admiral Gorshkov. 
2. India’s two earlier carriers, INS Vikrant and INS Viraat, were originally the British-built HMS Hercules and HMS Hermes before being commissioned into the Navy in 1961 and 1987, resp.

• INS Vikrant was a Majestic-class 19,500-tonne warship
• It was a source of immense national pride over several decades of service before it was decommissioned in 1997 
• India acquired the Vikrant from the UK in 1961, and the carrier played a stellar role in the 1971 war with Pakistan that led to the birth of Bangladesh
• The reincarnated Vikrant sailed for her maiden sea trials in the 50th year of her illustrious predecessor’s key role in victory in the 1971 war”
• What weapons will the new Vikrant carry: The new warship is comparable to India’s existing carrier INS Vikramaditya, which is a 44,500-tonne vessel and can carry up to 34 aircraft, including both fighter jets and helicopters.

1. It is comparable to India’s existing carrier INS Vikramaditya, a 44,500-tonne vessel and can carry up to 34 aircraft, including both fighter jets and helicopters
2. IAC-1 will be “the most potent sea-based asset”, which will operate the Russian-made MiG-29K fighter aircraft and Kamov-31 Air Early Warning Helicopters, both of which are already in use on the Vikramaditya
3. As the carrier is a valuable and vulnerable target, it is escorted in the group by destroyers, missile cruisers, frigates, submarines, and supply ships
4. The new Vikrant will also operate the soon-to-be-inducted MH-60R Seahawk multirole helicopter manufactured by the American aerospace and defence company Lockheed Martin, and the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) built by Bengaluru-based Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
5. The warship will offer an “incomparable military instrument with its ability to project Air Power over long distances, including Air Interdiction, Anti-Surface Warfare, offensive and defensive Counter-Air, Airborne Anti-Submarine Warfare and Airborne Early Warning”
6. More than 50 Indian manufacturers were directly involved in the project, and about 2,000 Indians received direct employment on board IAC-1 every day. Over 40,000 others were employed indirectly.

• 1999: Project ‘P71’ to build Air Defence Ship (ADS) cleared
• 2003: Aircraft Carrier project gets government nod
• 2006: Navy says ADS changed to Indigenous Aircraft Carrier
• 2009: Keel laid
• 2011: Floated out of dry dock
• 2013: Launched
• Nov 2020: Harbour and basin trials completed
• Aug 2021: Sea trials begin
• Next: Shipbuilder will continue sea trials over the next 6-7 months; then hand over IAC-1 to Navy for trials
• Aug 2022: Expected to be commissioned. Trials of aircraft and component parts will follow.
• The future: Since 2015, the Navy has been seeking approval to build a third aircraft carrier which, if approved, will be India’s second Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-2). This proposed carrier, to be named INS Vishal, is intended to be a giant 65,000-tonne vessel, much bigger than IAC-1 and the INS Vikramaditya.

1. The Navy has been trying to convince the government of the “operational necessity” of having a third carrier. Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh said on Navy Day 2020 that the Navy could not remain a “tethered force”. 
2. For the government to be convinced of the need for IAC-2, however, a “change in mindset” is required. The Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, who is tasked with prioritising acquisition for the armed forces, has spoken against investing in another aircraft carrier, and has instead suggested that Lakshadweep and the Andaman & Nicobar islands could be developed as “unsinkable” Naval assets.
3. Navy officials said that to defend the vast Indian Ocean Region, persistent air power is required day and night. A third carrier will provide the Navy with surge capability, which will be essential in the future, they have argued.
4. Now that India has developed the capability to build such vessels, it should not be whittled away. The expertise gained by the Navy and the country over the past 60 years in the “art of maritime aviation” should not be wasted either.
5. While the US Navy has 11 aircraft carriers, China too is moving ahead aggressively with its aircraft carrier programme. It has two carriers now, a third is in the making, and another two are likely to be commissioned within a decade.

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