The Royal Navy and the Indian Navy have formed the Carrier Capability Partnership which aims to share best practice from the UK’s carrier programme, say the Royal Navy.
Indian Admiral Lanba was given a tour of HMS Queen Elizabeth and an insight into how the Royal Navy worked with key industrial partners to develop the aircraft carrier and her sister ship HMS Prince of Wales.
The First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Philip Jones said:
“I am sure we will be able to develop further synergies in our respective future carrier strike capabilities. The important thing is that by developing these capabilities in tandem, we build in a level of interoperability.
When combined with our regular operational interaction and exercises such as the hugely valuable Konkan series there can be no doubt we will be increasingly well placed to work together across the full spectrum of Naval activity – from disaster relief to high end warfighting.”
After INS Viraat was decommissioned in March 2017, the Indian Navy was left with only one aircraft carrier in active service, INS Vikramaditya, which serves as the flagship of the fleet.
Vikramaditya (formerly Admiral Gorshkov) is a modified Kiev-class aircraft carrier procured at a total cost $2.3 billion from Russia in December 2013.
It does include the aircraft and weapons systems… However it is over 3 times the cost that was initially agreed on. Also there is some extra costs that were not disclosed that were paid due to underestimation of certain materials during refit…
It does seem a lot of money for an old outdated ship…
The Russians had priced the refit based upon the idea that a significant proportion of the wiring and pipe work could be retained. She had also suffered a Boiler Room explosion in 1994 that led to a year of repairs, it is telling that they offered her up for sale in 1996.
The yard that did the work Sevmash had no prior experience of this kind of work and things were further hindered by the usual Indian insistence to cram a hodgepodge of different systems from many different suppliers around the globe.
Floating PoW brochure alas.
Erm… no.
STOP IT…please
standby for your usual Indian propaganda , “ our carrier is already much better than the QE “ and then “ we sunk it and shot it down – TWICE – trust me here’s a photo”
Hopefully their poor performance IRL combat recently will tone down their “we are the best at everything” propaganda B.S..
Which real-life combat recently? The last combat was when Mig-21 shot down an F-16 of Pakistan and got shot down too when Air Force bombed Jaise-e-Muhammed terror camps.
Other than that, out of all the wars India fought throughout its history, it only lost once in 1962 Skirmish with China. And won all, 1947, 1952, 1971, 1999, and a lot of other small skirmishes, and operations.
Propaganda lol. Just start reading more.
Yeah we will give the Indians everything on a plate on how the RN works with carriers and how to build them, then the Indians will copy it then every Indian will say they are a better navy ect ect. They still say there Army is far better than the British army, it might be bigger and there Navy might have more ships but let’s put one UK strike brigade against an India brigade and we will see. And is India even any good at expeditionary operations, or amphibious operations?
India can’t even sort out poorly trained and armed Separatist Militias let alone an organised and supported British Strike Force.
If indian navy comes better then navy in future but it will not move against RN. But alone neither india nor RN can deter china. So go ind and rn together
The Indians have followed a similar path to the Chinese regards Aircraft Carriers – buy an old wreck from the ex Soviet Union left overs ( in the Chinese case more protracted as it was bought to be a floating Casino ) completely gut it out , the Chinese did this theirselves whilst the Indians used a Russian Shipyard,upgrade it then commission it into their fleets,Add a bit of reverse Engineering and hey presto your next Indidgenous designed and built Carrier is good to go – .https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INS_Vikrant_(2013)
I wouldn’t be surprised if we sell HMS POW to the Indians at a bargain price in future…
No the Indians would feel that to be humiliating given their aspirations are on par with the Chinese. More likely looking at building their own QE Class carrier in one of their own shipyards, but with British help.
That would be very positive and represent a big turn in events that could be very beneficial to both sides and certainly show that it’s time for old animosities to be buried as again both will benefit working together in a part of the world where alliances are increasingly important even more for India than the UK. The ‘allied’ countries there UK, OZ, NZ, Japan and others have a lot to offer each other and India in that regard. Let’s hope cooperation can expand.
What country does “OZ” refer to?
OZ = Australia.
You should be disgusted if that old idea happened. That will happen if we as a Country did this because vested interest and arshole who are quite happy to see the UK decline, when this is not natural. We need to make kudos from the great project tha tis the QE aircraft carrier. We are showing yet again tha twe are ahead of anyone in shipbuild design and ability in build, even though we get little opportunity to do ths. Forget about any UK carriers being sold. If anything, we need one more! It would work out cheaper.
You’re on the money with that one India will more than likely bag the Prince of Wales as part of a Brexit trade deal at a knock down price.
CH – couldn’t agree more. We have best trained men and women in uniform anywhere in the world and we as a nation should be proud of each and everyone of them!
Couldn’t agree more David
$10.2 billon for the two queenies. So 2.55 for half an elisabeth. India are looking to build a 65,000 ton conventional carrier with EMALS much like the French version of our design. Fingers crossed this might lead to a few more British designed aircraft carriers. & since the EMALS they want is American -maybe we can fit ours in a midlife upgrade.
Let’s hope they didn’t come with tape measures to measure up their next carrier
The French paid a wad to get the plans of the QE class. Perhaps the Indians intend something similar.
Was more thinking the blue peter job of the PoW, considering all the stories of it being sold.
We sold the plans for the QE class to the French, of all people?? Aside from Russia and China, there’s probably no more untrustworthy nation on the planet.
Well the original design was by Thales it’s just that it was politically uncomfortable to allow them to lead the build, so Bae were given the lead and I am sure aspects of their failed design were incorporated too and it was this overall combined design that the French were originally going to adapt and build for themselves. Of course they ran out of money and dropped the idea and here we are ten years later with them trying to build one with the Germans probably much more expensively than if they had shared the costs with us on 3 they helped (at least privately) to design.
While Thales might have been the lead partner of the group that put forward the winning design. It was BMT that did most of the design of the carrier before it was selected.
The RN also ‘floated’ the idea of basing a T31 in India during the visit.
I’m not sure India would ever go for that, their political class is acutely aware of history and India’s modern relationship with the UK is always viewed through that lense.
‘Zactly.
And what with the support facility in Oman, facilities in Bahrain, and the possibility of a base in the Far East, I’m not sure if it’s really needed.
I’d tend to agree if the basing was on India’s West coast. But what if the basing was on the Southern tip or East coast; or perhaps even somewhere much further afield like the Andaman and Nicobar Islands? India has been investing in the latter, which is an excellent position to patrol the Malacca Straights, Andamen Sea and Bay of Bengal and might be a more attractive location for the UK to patrol from than Singapore or Brunei.
Having worked closely with both the Indian Army and the Pakistani Army (not at the same time), they are both capable fighters. You are correct, 1 British mech brigade would make a mess of an Indian brigade but unlike the severely depleted British Army, the Indian Army has close to 14 Corps! We don’t even have 14 battalions of armoured infantry
BV
It’s sad, I just hope we don’t need a large army anytime soon.
I spent some time with the Indian Gurkha’s in Sierra Leonne. Great bunch of guys.
They where the most respected troops out there and the rag tag African units sent in from various countries as part of the UN Peacekeeping force did not want them to leave there barracks under any circumstances .
The reason being that most African units had raced hell for leather to “Secure ” the diamond fields from “further exploitation” and if the Gurkha’s turned up that little earner would be gone.
Well done for pointing out that there are more Gurkhas in the Indian army than our own and one presumes of similar capability if led well. Equally Sikh troops were some of the best in the British Army during the war much underrated sadly and only given credit here relatively recently I doubt they have deteriorated test badly since though again the leadership?. More sadly they (all Indians) who fought for Britain were treated even worse in India post Independence by the authorities, no pensions or anything unlike those who fought against us for the Japanese. As said elsewhere the political classes in India have a serious and totally unproductive and self defeating chip on their shoulder everything British, where others simply do not.
I had a relation who was with an Indian Army Baluchi Regt ( Now Pakistani Army presumably) and said they were fierce, brave and the Germans were very fearful facing them due to their night attack capabilities.
Its a great pity relationships have suffered 3 ways when there should be mutual respect and links. Long time ago now.
At the end of the day, the Indians still want to have good relations with us. More military cooperation between our two nations would improve security in the East. Sounds good to me!
The Indian Navy invited BAE (amongst many other firms) to make a bid for the next carrier – it’s meant to be available by 2030. Diamonds to walnuts this was an advert for what BAE can do for the Indians
I wonder if the Indians could sell us some of their ASMs to bridge the capability gap between Harpoon & Perseus?
The Indians gave a good acount of themselve when fighting in WW2.
Easy guys the indians may buy a lot of Russian weapon systems but they are at odds, one with pakistan ,which is one step away from jihads getting hold of nukes and also china putting its weight on its borders, India is a good buffer.
We should remember that India’s Armed Forces have a close affinity to those of the UK in customs, Flags, Insignia, Ranks,drill, Uniforms etc. They also fought along side us in many conflicts large and small. We should cherish and respect this relationship
India wants everything on the cheap, I have worked with them many times. I don’t rate them or there equipment, a lot of it is outdated junk which they struggle to keep operational, yes large tri srvices in terms of man power but not very skilled at all. The UK tried to sell India the Eurofighter which is a excellent platform, the bought from the French and have stalled on a further order, as they want everything cheap. India is good at projecting image and most people in the country believe it, but not very good at backing it up,.
We need to do more to build up relations with India. Both because of our shared past and because of the growing economic market. They are also best placed to keep China in check, and need a large modern armed forces. I think we should help them with carrier design if they want it, and I believe they will be invited to partner with Tempest. I just hope they are not here with the view to buy one of our two careers! If we are to be ‘global britain’ then Exactly the sort of country to play ball with. I’m sure if we come to them with respect and as an equal, the past can be smoothed over, and we also need to get them away from dealing with Russia.
Helping them with carrier operations in the same way that the Americans helped us relearn carrier operations would be wonderful. A good way to “pay it back/pass it on” as it were.
“the growing economic market”
Yes but we are not allowed access to that remember. India or the rest of the world who’s share of our trade is booming.
We need to stay in the shrinking one.
India has an existing (very long winded) Carrier building Program with the next ship in the Design Stage at the moment. It’s looking to be @ 65000 Tons and Emals Is on their Wishlist but there is a question mark regarding Aircraft. To my mind They should purchase Rafale’s rather than their home grown Teja’s which apparently are too Heavy.
RGR, It’s on their Wish List, They are following the USN Closely and the Chinese are “On It” too. The USN have had more than a few Issues though so I guess there will be a few hurdles to cross along the way for Both Countries. Meanwhile In Good Old Blighty, We have a perfectly good Platform,( or Two) Just need a few Squadron’s or 8 now !!!!
I’m just so Cynical !
RGR,
Yes that is an advantage, electrical wiring takes up less space than boilers and piping, but is also easier to maintain. EMALS makes even more sense on a nuclear powered carrier where there is plenty of surplus electricity to go around. EMALS is also more versatile than steam catapults, as the acceleration can be controlled more smoothly which puts less strain on airframes and allows a wider range of aircraft to be launched in term of weight. Additionally there’s the fact that steam cats require fresh water to operate so an EMALS equipped carrier would need to carry less.
Today, most of the indian navy like frigate, destroyer, nuclear submarine, petrol ship are building local shipyard. India buy foreigner item due to fielding as much as need to keep china on check. Even india building aircraft carrier self but some technology lack like Emal.
Feck, Are you related to Ivan per chance ?????
BTW, Looking at the Picture above, Are those Russian Tugs ?????
Oh and another thing, See that Black Belt at the Waterline ? It’s Huge. Go check Hermes In Pompey 1982 Chaps, Reckon She could load 60 Aircraft and Hermes Too given the need.
The very broad rule of thumb is one cab for every 1000 tonnes of displacement.
Kyd was quoted when he was captain that under “surge conditions” they could carry 70 aircraft.
The RN hosts visitors and foreign admirals/politicians all the time, and what better way to host them on-board our shiny new carrier, we even throw cocktail parties on-board when overseas for foreign dignitaries, it’s one of our very effective soft power and UK plc promotional duties.