INS Vikrant class Carrier Rejected ?, BEML Minefield Equipment, IAF Laser Defense Pod, INS Arighat

Navy not in favor of Vikrant Sister class Aircraft carrier

After having to prioritize between the development of six nuclear attack submarines over the construction of the second indigenous aircraft carrier with 65000 tons displacement, the Navy still plans to seek approvals in the latter part of the decade and has quietly turned downed suggestions of development of second Vikrant sister class aircraft carrier in 45000 tons displacements made by some of the officials in the Ministry Of Defence.

India’s indigenous aircraft carrier IAC1, INS Vikrant successfully passed basin trials at Cochin Shipyard Limited in Kochi last year and most of the fabrication work on the flight deck and weapons integration work is going smoothly and it is expected that INS Vikrant will start user trials by end of this year and will commence air operations trials after that and will be commissioned by end of 2022.

INS Vikrant sister ship could have been economical and could have been much cheaper, but the design has its limitations, and also bigger 65000 tons conventional aircraft carrier can be equipped with the next generation aircraft launching system Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System EMALS and can field newer generation locally developed fighter jets like TEDBF.

BEML rolls out Mechanical Minefield Marking Equipment

BEML Limited, one of the leading public sectors under the Ministry of Defence, Government of India, has rolled out the first prototype of Mechanical Minefield Marking Equipment MkII, built on BEML TATRA 6×6 an ‘Atmanirbhar’ product, developed through Technology of Transfer from R&D E Engineers, DRDO.

Mechanical Minefield Marking Equipment MKII developed by R&D E Engineers would greatly benefit the Indian army to mark/fence minefields. The MKII is designed for marking the minefields at a faster rate, semi automatically with minimal human intervention.

The equipment is capable of marking/fencing at a minimum rate of 1.2 km/hr with an inter picket spacing of 15 metre. The system has the capability to place the pickets at 10 – 35 meters spacing in the step of 5 metre. The picket can be driven to a maximum depth of 450 mm by this system. MMME MkII system is designed to operate in the plains of Punjab, as well as semi desert & desert of Rajasthan, in all weather conditions. The system can store 500 numbers of pickets and polypropylene rope 15 kilometer in length.

Laser Defense Pod: Why Indian Air Force should invest in this technology

The U.S. Air Force has started prototype work on a defensive tactical laser weapon designed to be carried externally on its combat jets to be used against surface to air and air to air missiles that are fired against the jet and by 2024 it plans to field production variant that can be adapted on all legacy and present 5th generation fighter jets, as another defense of fighter jets in high risk environments.

Using a directed energy laser to down a hostile supersonic missile is by no means easy but DRDO has been known to be working on the development of High Energy Laser that can be used to shot down drones and low flying UAVs, but the technology is still in the developmental stage and might take years before DRDO can develop powerful high energy laser that can be used to drown high value targets like helicopters and fighter jets with considerable standoff range.

Directed energy laser for the defensive role is not a new concept and many countries are working on land and sea based system but the challenges in developing subsystems small and light enough to fit inside a pod that can be carried by a tactical aircraft could require significant breakthroughs for the DRDO to accomplish in development of ground based, vehicle mounted laser weapons first.

Laser Weapon System will be part of the 6th generation fighter technology that the world will start seeing when they enter production by 2035 and the ability to shoot down missiles in flight and operate in denied environments, increases the advantage of any legacy and futuristic fighter jets like AMCA that India plans to use in future and DRDO must accelerate research and development in this niche area of weapons development so has to avoid playing catch up, when this weapon system start arriving by the turn of this decade.

INS Arighat: Sister ship or India’s Second Generation SSBN ?

INS Arighat, the Indian Navy’s second nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine, will be commissioned into the Indian Navy in the next few months as it has completed much of its user sea trials. INS Arighat is often called Arihant’s sister class ship due to external similarities with the lead Arihant class submarines but Arighat is way ahead of Arihant class in terms of technological leap the submarines technology has made in India after years of working on the Arihant class submarine.

Arighat features almost in every department enhanced indigenous content that is upgraded or next generation technology that was used on the first nuclear submarine.

Arihant was often called Technology demonstrator for India’s ship submersible ballistic, nuclear SSBN program and Arighat is a much more refined submarine that has enhanced capabilities.

It’s no hidden fact that the Navy plans to use Arihant as a Training vessel for the training of future crew to operate nuclear powered submarines when bigger S4 and S4* joins the fleet and later prepare for induction of the larger S5 class of submarines.

S4 and S4* will be first in class submarines that will enable the Indian Navy to carry bigger China specific nuclear ballistic missile like K5 that is 5000 kilometer and K6 that is 8000 kilometer. Present Arihant class is limited to Pakistani specific nuclear ballistic missile like K-15 1000 kilometer and K4 3500 kilometer.