ENHANCING INDIAN NAVAL AVIATION

JYOTI SINGH reports how a powerful Indian naval air arm will prove to be the biggest seabased conventional level deterrence, both for the tactical and strategic battlefields

- JYOTI SINGH

The last three-quarters of the 20th century were transformational times for naval warfare as traditional maritime strike capabilities of nations were further boosted with offensive air power. The Second World War witnessed massive aerial bombing operations being launched by allied and axis nations from their respective naval platforms and remote bases. The concept of aircraft-carrier ships and carrier-borne strike aircraft took concrete shape during the war which permanently changed the way wars are fought over longer ranges in the strategic level battlefield. With the beginning of cold war between the two superpowers in 1945, the world was largely divided into two camps, with both the military blocs deploying large numbers of aircraft carrier ships and warships armed with supersonic turbofan-powered strike aircraft, helicopters and cruise missiles, away from home bases. The advent of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers further augmented the ranges of nations' offensive capabilities as the combat assets could be mobilised tens of thousands of kilometres away into the high seas near hostile territories, thus increasing the strike envelope.

Significance of a carrier-borne fleet

Surrounded by an unstable Pakistan on one side and an expansionist China on the other flank, there was a growing need for India to defend the peninsula from hostile naval action. The country's first ever aircraft carrier INS Vikrant (R11), a Majestic-class ship, was bought off the shelf from the Britishers in 1957 and commissioned into service with the Indian Navy in 1961. The ship carried a 'White Tigers' squadron consisting of Hawker Sea Hawk fighter jets, a 'Cobras' squadron of Breguet 1050 Alize antisubmarine warfare aircraft, and two helicopter squadrons: 'Angels' and 'Harpoons' consisting of Aerospatiale Alouette-III (HAL Chetak) and Westland Sea King choppers respectively.