[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by Maveryq

. Can anybody please explain the design of the radar on the mast top? Some ships have conventional radars which seem to be rotating type. What advantage does this Kolkata design provide over the conventional rotating design? Is it a stealth issue?

That is an AESA radar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active...ray#Advantages

[V.Narayan]

An ASEA radar, it is said, is more resistant to jamming and deception and better at detecting targets approaching low and fast and spot them from the sea-wave clutter. Also I believe it is more resistant to physical damage due to the many arrays.

[Maveryq]

Related to the Naval Aviation Fleet.


The Boeing P-8I -Neptune, completes six years of service in the Indian Navy. It is based out of the INS Rajali, in Tamil Nadu. It was earlier the home of the Tu 142 MKE aircraft, which have been retired.



The P-8I is probably more capable aircraft than the earlier Tu 142MKE. Must be having a more comfortable operating environment than the earlier Tu's. I personally liked the earlier Tu's. They had character, and their size overall and the counter-rotating propellers emanated a sense of dread.







Picture Source: Twitter handle of Mr. Rajat Pandit

[Dr.Naren]

I was lucky to get an opportunity to visit Karwar Naval base. Got to see INS Vikramaditya, it's H-U-G-E. Posting pics taken in mobile camera, sorry for the poor quality.

[V.Narayan]

^^^^^
Yup she is a BIG ship - two and a half football fields and more!! - 284 metres


Two IN carriers sailing in company - a sight we wont see for a 2 or 3 more years till Vikrant II joins the fleet. INS Vikramaditya (left) sailing with INS Viraat


A good shot that depicts clearly how high the ski jump rises. See how the ski jump is as high above the flight deck as the deck is above water.


One of my favourite photos of INS Vikramaditya.

Source: all photos from the Indian Navy.

[ads11]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

An ASEA radar, it is said, is more resistant to jamming and deception and better at detecting targets approaching low and fast and spot them from the sea-wave clutter. Also I believe it is more resistant to physical damage due to the many arrays.

To continue on the last point, the lack of moving parts like you'd see in a traditional rotating radar unit or pivoting one for that matter makes it less likely to suffer a form of failure. It essentially achieves widespread coverage through switching on different parts of the array electronically and scanning different sections at a time. If you were to imagine it as a disc of LEDs for example, instead of having the whole disc lit and spinning to scan a room it stays stationary and lights up individual LEDs to get a fuller picture of the room. At least that's how I picture it in my head.
Furthermore because of that ability to turn on individual parts AESA radars are able to track a far greater number of targets at once and hence you see them used as part of systems like the AEGIS ballistic missile defence system - think about it, you've got multiple MIRVs raining down on you or say you're being spammed with a volley of anti ship cruise missiles lobbed at you from a stand off distance - you'd want your radar system to be able to individually track each of those incoming projectiles so that the fire control system computers can then work out fire solutions for each one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIm59P5BNSQ

Here's a video I found that might help.


See the flat hexagonal/octagonal disc on the main bridge structure? That's part of the radar system. Along with 3 other such panels placed all the way around they give full coverage to the ship and it's the same for our Kolkata class radar system, hence it's mounted so high up - a modern crows nest so to speak. Similarly you have the tall almost comical mast for the SAMSON radar on the UK's new Type 45 destroyers, same principle really

[DriverR]

India sending warships to the Middle East to protect shipping

Two of the ships shown in the first page have been deployed for shipping escort duties in the Middle East (Gulf of Oman) - INS Chennai (Kolkata-class Destroyer) and INS Sunayna (Saryu-class Patrol Vessel).

Wishing them the very best in this tour of duty, esp since tensions are high in the general region.

[avishar]

https://twitter.com/livefist/status/1142084486298910725

BREAKING: Fire on board INS Visakhapatnam destroyer at Mazagon Docks Ltd (MDL) Mumbai. The ship is near complete. The P15B destroyer was launched back in 2015. Details awaited.

[adi.mariner]

Along with the two ships, INS Chennai and INS Sunayna, Indian Navy officers and sailors will be positioned on Indian Flagged Tankers in an advisory role. Very good move by the Navy considering the tension in the Persian Gulf. The oil-fields of KSA, UAE and Iran are so close that the Offshore Platforms of Iran are visible from the oilfields in KSA and UAE.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/69894377.cms

[V.Narayan]

INS Betwa incident.

https://www.thenewsminute.com/articl...d-crime-107753


Three senior officers of the Indian Navy were on Friday recommended for punishment by a court martial for "negligence" in connection with the accident of frontline warship INS Betwa.

In 2016, INS Betwa a 4000 tonne ship had tipped over and crashed on its side in the dockyard here, during an undocking procedure, killing two personnel and causing serious damage to the combat vessel.

The officers have been recommended to be punished for their negligence in not maintaining the register for weight changes in the warship while it was undergoing refit and overhaul in the naval dockyards here.

The way a ship is docked and rested on giant blocks of wood is a miracle in itself. That this is done without incident year in and year out by dockyards across the world is testimony to their skill. This incident o best of my knowledge is a first ever for the Indian Navy and a great embarrassment.

I wonder if this discipline were to be applied to some of our Defence PSU’s such as HAL or the Ordnance Factories how much more productive they could possibly be.

[Deepsp]

This is serious.
Hard disk stolen from first indigenous aircraft carrier under construction at Cochin shipyard.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.times...w/71175093.cms

[V.Narayan]

First Project 17A Frigate launched - INS Nilgiri

INS Nilgiri that took to the water on 28-9-2019 is an improved Shivalik class guided missile frigate. It is the lead ship of what is to be a class of seven such warships that will carry forward the honoured names of the first series of warships ever to be built in India.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/rajn...trials-2108703

My late father was one of a team of 3 Naval officers who were seconded to Maz Docks in the 1960s to build the first INS Nilgiri which was India's first ever major warship built locally. It was a British design. That story is narrated here on Team BHP -

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/comme...ahmaputra.html (Indian Navy - A Shipbuilders Navy: INS Nilgiri, INS Godavari & INS Brahmaputra)

Four more of the class have been laid down and two further are planned. This is an Indian designed Indian built 6700 tonne warship. The ship will join the fleet in 2022 after completing its fitting out and probably one year of first of class sea trials. Cost is ~ 6500 crores a piece. The original Nilgiri cost Rs 20 crores in c.1970 money or about Rs 800 crores today.

Details:

Displacement~6700 tonnes
Length: 149 metres
Beam: 18 metres
Propulsion: 2 LM2500 General Electric gas turbines for speed and 2 MAN diesels for cruise. Configuration CODOG {Combined Diesel or Gas Turbine}
Top speed: 28+ knots (52 kmph)

Weapons suite:

Barak 8 SAMs for area air defence. With a range of ~100 kms. Capability to handle saturation attacks as it is married to the Israel MF-STAR ASEA radar system
2 x 30mm AK630 close in weapon systems for last ditch anti-missile and anti-aircraft defence. This is a 6 barrel gatling gun that fires 60 30mm rounds per second in short bursts
1 x 127mm Oto Melara dual purpose gun. Also for shore bombardment. Good to see big naval guns coming back to the IN
8 x Brahmos Surface to Surface long range missiles for anti-ship duties and also shore precision bombardment
2 x RBU 6000 anti-submarine rocket launchers. The '6000' indicates the range in metres.
2 x triple anti-submarine torpedo tubes of unknown caliber
2 x large helicopters with flight deck and hangar aft.

It is interesting that today's frigates being built for the IN are almost as well armed as destroyers {the next higher category warship} we designed and built just 20 years ago - here I refer to the Delhi class. The new ship has long range offensive capabilities in all three dimensions. Normally a frigate carried long range in one dimension or at the most two and self defense in the third. It is a good sign of design philosophy that the IN is building the largest practical hull around the power plant & weapons suite. A large hull renders endurance, sustainability (ie more ammunition) and greater ability to absorb damage.

Jai Hind.

Photo below of INS Shayadri of the P17 class. INS Nilgiri will look similar but not identical


Outline below of the old INS Nilgiri that started the IN's highly successful story of indigenous design

[V.Narayan]

https://swarajyamag.com/insta/indian...edo-varunastra

According to the report, the first batch of the heavyweight ASW torpedoes will be soon delivered to the Indian Navy and will be fitted on to Sindhu class submarines and other naval ships. This will make India one of the eight countries to have designed and developed homing torpedoes.

Weighing around 1.5 tonnes, the Varunastra is potent against both ships and submarines, up to the range of 40 km. It can carry about 250 kg of high explosives at a speed of around 40 knots (74 kmph).

The Indian Navy had inducted the torpedo, designed by Defence Research Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL), in July 2018, following which it placed an order of 63 such systems for Rs 1,187 crore.

As per the report, the Varunastra will be carried by Kolkata class, Rajput class and Delhi class destroyers. It will also be fitted on to Kamorta class corvettes and Talwar class frigates and the Sindhughosh Class submarines

[V.Narayan]

4th Kamorta class ASW Corvette, INS Kavaratti, commissions into the Indian Navy

The 4th of the class of Indian designed, Indian built anti-submarine warfare (ASW) corvettes INS Kavaratti joined the fleet on 18-2-2020. It carries forward the name of its predecessor a Petya class, Soviet built, ASW corvette that served with us from the late 1960s to early 1990s. Both ships play the same role that of defensive anti submarine warfare. It is a testimony to the times and the complexity of warfare that the new INS Kavaratti at 3300 tonnes full load is 3X the old Petya ship at 1150 tonnes.

The new ship is powered by 4 SEMT Pielstick diesels putting out a little over 20,000 shp to 2 shafts. This drives the ship at 25 knots (~46 kmph). This is not fast by warship standards but adequate for a defensive role against conventionally powered submarines. I would have wished it was at least capable of 28 knots. The armament mix is dominated by 1 x Seaking/Kamov Ka-28 ASW chopper, 4 x Indian built 533mm ASW torpedo tubes and 2 x Indian built ASW rocket launchers which are a reverse engineered RBU-6000’s. These rocket launchers shaped like a horse shoe are a Russian specialty and invaluable in keeping a submarine down and make it difficult for it to find the right firing position. Anti-aircraft defense only is provided by 2 x 30mm 6-barrel gatlings ie Close-In Weapon Systems. Their entire sequence from search & acquire to engage & fire is totally automated. Any manual input will make it too slow to be effective against anti-ship missiles. Sadly, the ship has been fitted for but not with a short range/medium range SAM system for air defence – budget constraints? – I do not know. The armament mix is rounded off by the Indian assembled Oto Melara 76mm dual purpose Super Rapid gun. Like most modern warships she has an X-shaped super structure to dampen radar signature and raft mounted machinery to attenuate underwater noise signature.

Where the Kolkatta class destroyers and Shivalik class frigates are the high end of our ocean going mix the Kamorta class is a part of our low end. All navies need this mix of hi and lo to ensure adequate hulls within their budget constraints. It is a sign of the maturing of our Navy that we build the largest possible hull size for a defined role. Hull size gives her range, endurance, ability to suffer battle damage without getting incapacitated and ability to design-in redundancy. Large hulls give us the ability to range far.

May she sail strong and far.

Pictures are of the Kamorta class in general except the last one which is of INS Kavaratti

[V.Narayan]

COVID-19 crisis: Air India, Indian Navy on standby to evacuate Indians from Gulf

https://www.newindianexpress.com/nat...f-2136476.html

The national carrier Air India and Indian Navy have been asked to be on standby with their aircraft and warships for the mass evacuation of
Indians from Gulf countries as COVID-19 pandemic continues.

"We are assessing the scenario and finding the plan to evacuate Indians from the Gulf countries. We have asked Air India and Indian Navy for the detailed evacuation plan," top government sources told ANI. Government sources also stressed that "many Indians have contacted the embassies through social media and emails, showing a willingness to return to their homes. The government is doing all possible planning and making arrangements of their evacuation from their destinations."

China-originated coronavirus has raged across continents, killing people and crippling economies. The oil and gas rich Middle Eastern countries have also been affected by the deadly pathogen. Around 10 million Indians are in Gulf countries and many of them are living in port cities, and that is why the government has also asked Indian Navy to give a detailed plan for evacuation through sea routes.

INS Jalashwa and two or more Magar class amphibious warships are being readied for the sealift.