A long and exhaustive article basically it said it won't be ready until 2023 if it not delayed again 2018 trial is fantasy
Shifting timelines of India’s Indigenous Aircraft Carrier
1 August 2016
India’s new aircraft carrier INS Vikrant is unlikely to be ready before 2023. Russia is doing all it can to keep up with the Indian Navy’s changing designs.
Here is excerpt
Shipyard lacked experience
As per the Indian Navy’s PSRs submitted in August 2004, the maximum speed of the new carrier would be 28 knots while the cruising speed (the speed at which the vessel travels in the most fuel efficient manner along with other fleet ships) would be 18 knots. The ship would have 45-day logistics endurance and a range of 7500 nautical miles at 18 knots. The 37,500 ton ship would be designed to have a complement of 160 officers and 1400 sailors.
However, Cochin Shipyards lacked the experience required to handle a project of such a massive scale. A technical audit of the shipyard carried out by DCN discovered the shipyard had “never built warships and was not used to the complexity of their designs, hull and systems”.
The shipyard’s organisation was mostly vertical without enough functional links between various departments. “It had no real project management central organisation and was working with many separated departments.”
To adapt CSL to produce an aircraft carrier, DCN prescribed basic proposals with respect to augmentation of the shipyard’s infrastructure, organisation and human resources, which included creation of a shipyard project management team and a liaison team.
CAG observes: “Since CSL was constructing an aircraft carrier for the first time, it was incumbent upon them to fully implement the DCN proposals so as to execute the project within approved timelines.”
However, this was not done and the project management team remained a weak one.
Procurement of steel
One of the reasons cited in the media for the delay in the carrier taking to the water was Russia’s inability to supply special steel. The CAG report agrees that “non-availability of steel was one of the major reasons which affected the progress of ship construction”.
But supply of steel from Rosoboronexport did not materialise as CSL could not accept the Corporate Guarantee offered by the Russian company against the requirement of Bank Guarantee stipulated by the Reserve Bank of India. Consequently, in 2004, the Indian Navy decided to use indigenous steel which was the equivalent of Russian steel.
The CAG report notes: “Despite the fact that Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) informed (May 2004) the Indian Navy that they could supply only steel plates, the Indian Navy intimated (July 2004) CSL that SAIL had confirmed their ability to supply all steel plates and sections (bulb bars) required. Accordingly, CSL placed (December 2004) a purchase order on SAIL for supply of steel plates and bulb bars.
The supply of bulb bars from SAIL remained unsatisfactory, and CSL had to go back to the Russian supplier. The ensuing delay “severely affected production”.
More delays
Another contributory factor in the launch delay was the drastic change requested in the heating ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) design by the Navyin 2010. On this, the audit report comments that changes to HVAC design impacted the design of 800 out of a total of 2300 ship compartments, which was likely to have a cascading impact on the design completed in the compartments.
Having a plethora of foreign contractors involved in the project may also have contributed to the delays. In 2007 CSL placed a purchase order for gear boxes with Germany’s Renk, for delivery by 2009. However, it was observed during impact testing that some of this imported equipment failed.
Sailing on
The Indian Navy is currently without an aircraft carrier as its flagship INS Vikramaditya is undergoing maintenance. Had the goalposts not shifted, the INS Vikrant would most likely have been flying the navy’s flag. India would have moved on to its next big project – the over 60,000 ton INS Vishal.
Perhaps DND is right – delays are inevitable because this is India’s first aircraft carrier project. But at the same time, the Defence Ministry needs to find out if the delays are because of inexperience, bumbling or if someone is making money from the extended construction. It really shouldn’t take 24 years to construct a medium-sized aircraft carrier. After all, it
the US only seven years to authorise, construct and deliver a 100,000 ton carrier with nuclear-propulsion.
