Regarding China's new aircraft carrier Fujian, the Indian Navy has concerns.

  • June 27, 2022, 11:17 a.m.

On June 25, India’s sole aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, came out of an 18-month major refit at INS Karwar and proceeded to the port anchorage after firing its steam turbine engines. The aircraft carrier is expected to sail into the high seas for a series of tests and trials before MiG-29K fighters are landed onboard the floating airfield. India’s second aircraft carrier, named INS Vikrant, will be commissioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Cochin harbor on August 15, 2022—the 75th Independence Day.

The INS Vikramaditya came out of refit days after the Chinese third aircraft carrier, Fujian, was launched from the Jiangnan shipyard and is in the process of being fitted out. The steam-powered 80,000-ton aircraft carrier is said to rival the 100,000-ton nuclear-powered USS Gerald R. Ford super aircraft carrier, which was commissioned in 2017.

While Fujian is touted to take on US military power in the coming decade in the Indo-Pacific, serving Indian Navy Admirals are posing some fundamental questions about the operability of the Chinese carrier, which is said to be equipped with state-of-the-art electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) technology. As of now, only the USS Gerald Ford is equipped with this advanced technology, which allows for faster take-offs and landings of fighter aircraft on board the carrier.

INS Vikramaditya came out of an 18-month major refit at Karwar Shipyard on June 25, 2022.

The Indian Navy war planners are surprised and want to know how China will operate EMALS on steam power when the technologically superior US is still struggling with the same system onboard the USS Gerald Ford. The US Department of Defence (DOD) reports indicate that the new technology system is performing at sub-power with frequent breakdowns and is unreliable. One must remember that the USS Gerald Ford is a nuclear-powered vessel, while the Fujian, like INS Vikramaditya, is a steam-powered warship and has more energy reserves at its command.

EMALS problems of the USS. Supercarrier Gerald Ford

  • The challenge for Super Carrier Gerald Ford is to scale a relatively new technology to handle the required weights and power.
  • EMALS motor-generator, which is part of a suite of equipment called the Energy Storage Subsystem, weighs over 80,000 pounds alone.
  • The Energy Storage Subsystem also includes the generator control tower and the stored energy exciter power supply. The Gerald R. Ford Class carriers require 12 such suites.
  • On the power front, EMALS is designed to deliver up to 60 megajoules of electricity and 60 megawatts at its peak in the 3 seconds it takes to launch a Navy aircraft. This amount of power could handle about 12,000 homes.

Although China’s client states like Pakistan are thumping their chests with the PLA Navy now having three aircraft carriers on the sea at various stages of development, the US Navy, despite 100 years of experience in carrier operations, is still struggling with the new technologies on board the USS Gerald Ford. India has been operating aircraft carriers since 1961, but China commissioned its first aircraft carrier only in 2012. Unlike fighters taking off from airbases on land, naval aviation is a supreme warfighting skill, with pilots getting disoriented in blue skies above and endless blue waters below on the high seas. Landing a fighter on a carrier in turbulent conditions requires the highest level of skill and maneuverability.

With the Indo-Pacific turning out to be the new theatre of confrontation between a rapidly rising China and the US, aircraft carriers like Fujian will be put to a severe test by the American Navy, with the Japanese Navy now building up to meet the sea challenge. In this context, the Indian Navy will also have to play its part in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific as it is only a matter of time before the Chinese carrier task forces enter the Indian Ocean as part of their sea deterrence deployments. But the Chinese PLAN power projection with the Fujian and its actual capability in turbulent seas in war conditions is being watched by the QUAD Navi

He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (2011, Hachette) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (2014, Hachette). The K Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies was awarded in 2015 by the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) and the 201

Author : Rajdhani Delhi Representative

Rajdhani delhi representative

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