Indian Navy’s new ensign unveiled

Short of jets on deck

According to reports, INS Vikrant will not have its own fleet of fighter jets on deck and instead will rely on a few Russian-designed aircraft borrowed from India’s only other carrier, the INS Vikramaditya.

France’s Dassault and Boeing are locked in a race to provide the Indian government with over two dozen jets earmarked for the Vikrant, a 262 metre-long vessel built at the state-run Cochin Shipyard in southern India.

The Indian Navy and India’s defence ministry did not respond to questions.

More than 75 percent of the ship’s components are indigenously procured, with half a dozen major industrial firms and over 100 smaller businesses providing equipment and machinery, according to India’s defence ministry.

‘The final proof of the pudding is the ship’s performance during sea trials. While it seems to be behaving pretty well, stability wise, aircraft operations have yet to commence. One hopes it will be a success story all the way,’ former Chief of India’s Naval Staff Admiral Arun Prakash told Reuters.

‘Because of our typically disjointed decision-making process, the selection of an aircraft got de-linked from the carrier project, and a

THE Indian Navy’s new ensign was unveiled by Modi in Kochi on Friday, on the sidelines of the commissioning of INS Vikrant.

In a bid to do away with the ‘colonial past’, the Saint George’s Cross has been removed from the Indian Navy’s new flag. Instead, it now features the national emblem with the Tricolour on the upper canton (top left corner of flag). The national emblem is encompassed by an octagonal shield and sits atop an anchor. Beneath it is the Navy’s motto ‘Sam No Varunah’.

The golden border surrounding the national emblem draws inspiration from the seal of Indian emperor Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and depicts steadfastness. The octagonal shape of the national emblem has been designed to represent eight directions, symbolising the multi-directional reach and multi-dimensional operational capability of

decision is yet to be taken,’ he said.

‘We knew the ship was likely to be commissioned this year, and the selection process as well as negotiations should have started well in time, perhaps three to four years earlier.’

The Vikrant also lacks a naval radar system, the Indian Navy.

The Saint George cross has been a feature of the naval ensign since 1928, except for a brief spell between 2001 and 2004, when the Hindu nationalist government of the time replaced it with a blue Indian Navy crest.

It was reintroduced after complaints by service members that the crest could not be easily spotted against the colour of the sky and the ocean, local media reports said.

recent images published by the Navy suggested, said Prathamesh Karle, a naval analyst at defence intelligence company Janes.

‘It would hence take some time for Vikrant to be operationally deployed along with its aircraft,’ Karle told Reuters.

India has an estimated 40 Russian-made

MiG-29Ks which mainly operate on the Vikramaditya - a repurposed Russian vessel. Some of those fighters will now be brought on to the Vikrant.

‘If an aircraft carrier...is to be made operational, then the main weapon is the air wing, right? So, it is going to be a critical shortfall,’ said Kamlesh Kumar Agnihotri, a senior fellow at New Delhi’s National Maritime Foundation think-tank.

‘Otherwise the aircraft carrier will not be able to be exploited optimally,’ the retired naval captain added.

With the Vikrant’s entry, India can deploy an aircraft carrier on both its eastern and western seaboards and expand its maritime presence, although the Indian navy still lags behind key regional rival, China.

The world’s two most populous countries share a border, some of which is disputed, where there were deadly skirmishes between their armed forces in 2020.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy has around 355 vessels, including two aircraft carriers, around 48 destroyers, 43 frigates and 61 corvettes, according to Karle.

In June, China launched its third aircraft carrier, which features a full-length flight deck with a catapult launch system - unlike India’s smaller carriers that use ski-jumps.

India’s existing fleet includes one aircraft carrier, 10 destroyers, 12 frigates and 20 corvettes.