Once far surpassed China! How did the Indian Navy go from "the pinnacle of Asia" to "the tail of the crane"?

The world was once again shocked by India: Recently, India announced the data of its P18 large destroyer under development, revealing that the ship has a full displacement of 12,300 tons and will be the first ship in Asia after launching. Just when the friends were shocked by this, India did not rush to come up with another timetable: the ship will be launched in 30 years at the earliest.

Today, I will accompany you to take a look at the glorious history of Indian destroyers and see how India went from being No. 1 in Asia to being "crunched by others."

▲India’s "Villant" and "Vikramatia" double aircraft carriers

The development of destroyers may be a very normal choice for India. As early as the 1980s, the Indian Navy began to "be consistent with the country's export-oriented strategy." For India, the largest country in South Asia, it has maintained a high economic growth rate.

But it is undeniable that India’s foreign trade in goods accounts for 42% of GDP, of which 90% of the goods trade and more than 70% of the trade are realized by sea. Regardless of the proportion of trade scale or the proportion of value, India's foreign trade reliance on maritime transportation is very high.

Therefore, in order to maintain maritime interests and protect its maritime shipping safety, India has proposed the "three aircraft carrier strategy" to build three aircraft carrier formations to ensure that India can guard the five main routes of the Indian Ocean-the Suez Canal, the Strait of Hormuz, and Strait of Kerk, Strait of Malacca, and Strait of Sunda. At the same time, vigorously develop strategic nuclear submarines in order to obtain underwater nuclear counterattack capabilities and forge a "triad" nuclear strike force. From this point of view, India's desire to build the strongest destroyer in Asia is not a whim. After all, in order to build a powerful navy, in addition to aircraft carriers and strategic nuclear submarines, the "knife guards" and "broken backbones" headed by destroyers are an indispensable and important part.

▲ Imagination of India's strategic nuclear submarine

Once upon a time, the development of Indian destroyers was among the best in Asia. In 1949, the Indian Navy had successively acquired 6 R-class destroyers from the United Kingdom. At this time, the People's Navy of China could only transform and repair the incomplete Japanese coastal defense ships. It was not until 1954 that it obtained four Type 07 destroyers from the Soviet Union.

During the same period, the main force of the South Korean Navy was a variety of small speedboats from the United States. It was not until 1963 that it obtained three "Fletcher" class destroyers for the first time from the United States; the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force was established in 1952, and in 1953 it was still on alert with 18 Ships and 50 support boats were the main force. It was only in 1955 that they leased a number of destroyers from the United States and began to build 28DD destroyers on their own. It can be said that among the Asian countries at that time, India had the fastest start in the field of destroyers, but its development was only slightly inferior to Japan, which had a strong industrial base, and far ahead of China and South Korea.

▲"Rajiput" class destroyer

Since then, after more than 20 years of development, in addition to the destroyers of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, the destroyers of the Indian Navy are still among the best with the technical support of the United States. In the 1970s, in order to get rid of the influence of the British navy, the Indian Navy introduced five "Rajput" class destroyers from the Soviet Union.

At this time, the Type 051 destroyer of the Chinese People's Navy, with a full load of no more than 3800 tons, is only equipped with two triple-mounted Seahawk-1 (HY-1) anti-ship missiles. At this time in South Korea, destroyers were still "second-hand goods" left over from the United States in World War II. At this time, the destroyers of the Indian Navy were still in the No. 1 group in Asia, and they had the tendency to "sit two and look one", which made many national functions envied.

▲051 destroyer

By the 1990s, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force's advantage in destroyers continued to expand. Four destroyers equipped with the "Aegis" system made it the best destroyers in the world. India, on the other hand, relied on its international ambiguity to start the P-15 program and successfully built the "Delhi" class. Although, many people believe that the weapon system equipped with this destroyer is at the level of the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s.

But in the 1990s, how many types of destroyers could compete with the "Delhi" class? After all, this model has a full load displacement of 6,700 tons, has two single-arm rotary launchers (used to launch Russian-made SA-N-7/12 semi-active radar-guided air defense missiles), and four 8-unit "Barak-1" "" type vertical launch system, 4 warships with 4 units of SS-N-25 anti-ship missile launchers, and its comprehensive combat capability should never be underestimated.

In the same period, China’s most advanced Type 052 and 051B destroyers and South Korea’s most advanced KDX-I destroyers have made great progress, but compared with the "Delhi" class, there are still differences in both tonnage and comprehensive combat capabilities. The small gap.

▲The two-ship formation sailing of the Delhi-class guided missile destroyer of the Indian Navy

However, the Indians may not think that this is their last "sweet time" in the field of destroyers. With the end of the Cold War, and India's multiple nuclear tests. India, which used to have both sides, was immediately "constrained" from the two camps of the east and west. Whether it was weapons from Russia or technology from the Western world, they were temporarily "isolated" from India.

As a result, India’s military industry’s insufficient scientific research capabilities and low technological manufacturing levels were immediately exposed. Therefore, when China's 052 series destroyers were expanded to 052B/C/D/DL four models in a short time; South Korea's KDX series destroyers also completed the construction of KDX-Ⅱ/Ⅲ. India’s destroyers can still only spin in place on the “Rajput” class of the 1980s and the “Delhi” class of the 90s.

▲India "Kolkata" class destroyer

▲Two "Kolkata" class destroyers

A "Delhi" class destroyer

At the beginning of the new century, India tried its best to continue to develop P-15A and P-15B destroyers on the basis of the "Delhi" class. As a result, the Indians unfortunately discovered that they did not even have technical reserves for key core technologies such as phased array radars and vertical launch systems. Therefore, India could only seek "foreign aid" in the cracks, and finally selected Israel, a military power from the Middle East.

Israel is also not stingy, and has proposed the EL/M-2248 active phased array multifunctional radar and "Barak-8" air defense missile solutions for India.

▲The Barak-8 medium-range air defense missile with a range of only 70 kilometers

Unfortunately, in the face of the "insults" brought about by various technical defects, India can only choose to accept it. This is because although long-range ship-to-air missiles can be purchased from Russia and France, Israel is its only choice if it wants to obtain the key technology of phased array radar. Therefore, the P-15A "Kolkata" class destroyer with a full load displacement of 7,500 tons can only use the EL/M-2248 radar at the same level as Israel's "Sar-6" light frigate with a full load displacement of 2,200 tons.

After 70 years of tossing, the Indians repeatedly jumped between "making it better to buy" and technological digestion, and finally pulled themselves from the top in Asia to the rear of the crane. However, when the P-15 project was still a semi-removal project, the Indian Navy was busy throwing out a new P-18 destroyer project.

According to the information currently disclosed, the full-load displacement of the P-18 destroyer will reach 13,000 tons, the radar will use an improved model of the Israeli EL/M-2248 radar, and the ship-borne air defense missile will use the Israeli "Barack-8ER" and naval guns. It uses the Italian "Otto Melera" 127mm naval gun, the anti-ship missile uses the Indian "Brahmos" or the Russian "Hao Shi", and the early warning radar uses the Dutch LW-08. These weapons, equipment and systems are put together, let alone facing future wars, and even dealing with today's maritime threats is already incapable. From this point of view, the P-18 destroyer has only displacement in terms of various data indicators. If it wants to become "the strongest in Asia", it can only be reborn 40 years late.

▲Imagine picture of Indian P-15B "Visakhapatnam" class destroyer

The most direct reason India has launched the P-18 destroyer in such a hurry is that China, Japan and South Korea, which once lagged behind in the development of destroyers, have now completed the "straight ahead." In just over 10 years, the destroyers of the navies of major Asian powers have all entered the "10,000-ton club." China's Model 055 has been the only one in Asia, South Korea's "King Sejong" is the best, and Japan's "Maya" class is also a rising star. The Indians have been surpassed by the three East Asian countries in terms of destroyer technology, and even the displacement is now ruthlessly "crushed". This is definitely a kind of "humiliation" for India, which claims to be the Asian successor of the "British Empire".

In order to squeeze into the Asian 10,000-ton warship club, Asanmen are almost paranoid and must launch a 13,000-ton destroyer in advance. As for whether the overall performance of this type of destroyer is advanced, how long the construction period is, and whether the mashup of multi-national technologies will affect electromagnetic compatibility..., these details will not be considered. Anyway, there are "Glorious" fighters, "Aqiong" tanks, and "Akash" air defense missiles. The Indian army wants it and wants it, and it doesn't want it.

▲Part of the data of the P-18 destroyer announced by India

Judging from the consistent urination of the Indian Navy and shipyards, this approach is understandable. First, set up the flag of the "Asia's strongest destroyer" and cost 500 billion rupees (about 6.8 billion US dollars) for a single P-18. If you throw out the offer, you can once again reach out to the Indian government for money-sir! Play money!