The 10 Upcoming Aircraft Carriers

[TR_123456]

 

[Gessler]

> Hasn't South Korea's CVX been cancelled?

> The Project-23000 is a bit of a pie in the sky. Hasn't been approved/funded and likely never will be.

> India's future carrier plans are...a bit undecided right now. The Navy certainly wants a 3rd carrier but right now there's no confirmation as to whether they'll go for the Vishal/IAC-2 or just a repeat order of another Vikrant/IAC-1 class, pushing the IAC-2 into the distant future. What's also not yet confirmed is the IAC-2's type of propulsion, nuclear or conventional turbines w/ IFEP.

The most recent Capability Roadmap document makes it a point to mention that nuclear propulsion for surface ships (including carriers) is very much in the Navy's plans, but whether they decide to go for a nuclear carrier(s) or not might depend on timelines.

I'm thinking, they might go for a 2nd Vikrant-class ship in the immediate future to keep the shipyard happy, while planning for a 2 or 3-ship class of nuclear carriers down the line (considering the Defence Minister said a while ago that the Navy eventually plans for a fleet of 5-6 carriers).

If nuclear option is taken, the CLWR-B2 reactor (same one being used for new S5-class SSBNs now under construction & also upcoming P77-class SSNs) will be the most likely baseline design for carrier propulsion. This PWR provides 190-200 MWth in a submarine application, but it's possible it could be uprated to 200+ MWth for surface use (more space for shielding, better heat-exchangers etc.).

The France Libre/PANG uses 2 x K22 reactors (220-225 MWth each) so a similar twin-reactor layout could be used. The Indian reactors will use 40% (or above) enriched fuel though (as opposed to K22's <15% enrichment).

Oh and the picture they used for Vishal is made up , no known design was ever shown publicly.