..:: India Strategic ::. Indian Navy: Indian Naval Aviation gets Combat Gems on Diamond Jubilee

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Editorial

Indian Naval Aviation gets Combat Gems on Diamond Jubilee
2013 is the year of Indian Naval Aviation

By Gulshan Luthra and Cmde Ranjit Rai

Published: June 2013

GOA. At a big function here on May 11, Defence Minister AK Antony commissioned the Navy’s first MiG-29K shipboard combat aircraft squadron, INAS 303 Black Panthers, and four days later, its first Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance (LRMR) Boeing P-8I landed at INS Rajali Naval Air Station in southern India.

The MiG-29Ks will board their mother ship INS Vikramaditya when the carrier reaches the Indian shores end-2013 after delayed delivery by Russia. Boeing will deliver two more P-8Is this year as per schedule while HAL will deliver the first of the Navy’s 17 British origin Hawk advanced trainer jets in July.

Although the aircraft are being sourced from different countries, they are interoperable with one another as well as with various naval ships, ground stations and Indian Air Force (IAF) and Army assets. While the IAF uses its own AFNET network, the Navy uses NEWN (Navy Enterprise Wide Network), the oldest connectivity asset among the three Services.

The Navy’s senior most aviator, respectfully called The Grey Eagle, Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha, told India Strategic that the Indian Navy has to maintain 24 x 7 all weather vigil in the Indian Ocean to secure the country’s interests and also to ensure that no state or state-sponsored terrorists or others can stage another attack like the 2008 Mumbai terror attack anywhere on the Indian soil. The Navy is giving due emphasis on building both its submarine and aviation capabilities. Vice Admiral Sinha is the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy’s spearhead Western Command. “The Navy is proud of all its new aircraft and looking forward to new carrier assets,” he observed.

The flat-top INS Vikramaditya, formerly Admiral Gorshkov of the Russian Navy, has gone through all its tests successfully and should set sail for India later this year. The MiG-29Ks will offer their mother ship a grand ceremonial salute before landing on it.

Unlike IAF’s MiG-29s, which were acquired from 1987 onwards, the MiG-29Ks of the Navy are a generation ahead with swing role capability – the ability to dominate the skies and attack any air, land or sea targets. The MiG-29K flies at twice the speed of sound (about 2000 km/hour), can pull up to 8g (8 times the force of gravity), refuel midair, and climb to 65,000 feet (about 11 km).

Russia has delivered some 20 of the 45 aircraft since 2010 and the first squadron has done more than 2,500 hours of flying already in training and operational sorties over the Indian Ocean on both India’s East and West coasts. The aircraft are equipped with rockets, R-73 and Kh-35 missiles, Israeli Elta’s Airborne Self Protection Jammer (ASPJ) pod and Phazotron ZHUK-E radars. The weapons package was displayed during the commissioning ceremony, attended by top present and past naval aviators including Admiral RH Tahiliani, who was the first Indian Navy officer to do a carrier landing some 50 years ago. Admiral Arun Prakash, another aviator who headed the Navy, was also among the luminaries invited to the inspiring ceremony.

Pilots of the Goa based MiG-29K squadron, appropriately named as the 303 Black Panthers – 303 being the caliber of the good old rifle cartridge which revolutionised ballistics in the 19th century – are doing routine training for carrier landing and takeoff at the INS Hansa here, where a 14 degree ski jump ramp has also been set up replicating the one onboard the carrier. Squadron’s Commanding Officer, Capt AD Theophilus, an accomplished Sea Harrier pilot and a Qualified Flying Instructor, proudly led the ceremonies.

Antony expressed confidence that the Squadron will make a significant contribution in enhancing peace and stability “in our area of operations” and help provide “effective safeguards for unhindered economic development” of India and other friendly nations in the Indian Ocean Region, pointing out the cooperative reach of the Indian Navy.

He also said that the Indian armed forces needed to build technological edge over potential adversaries and that the Government was mindful of what needed to be done in this perspective, given the fact that the security scenario in the region is changing fast.

Antony also disclosed that India’s first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-1) would be launched in August in Kochi, where it is currently under construction. It will take a couple of years though to make it operational.

The 45 MiG-29Ks are designated for INS Vikramaditya and IAC-1. Rear Admiral DK Sudan, Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Air) or ACNS (Air), who plays a key role in building the naval aviation capability, described 2013 as The Year of Naval Aviation, and observed that all plans of the Navy regarding aviation assets “are on track.”