INS Vikramaditya Testing Its ZiF-121 Launcher - Addendum

The previously unidentified projectile, seen launched from the Indian Navy's Aircraft Carrier, INS Vikramaditya, identified.

A few posts earlier included images of the INS Vikramaditya, one of which showed it firing what then was assumed to be a defensive weapon system. A search in that direction turned up nothing. As it turns out, they are actually anti-ship missile decoys being launched from the PK-2 countermeasure system. Loaded from below the deck, the system launches them through the ZiF-121 barrel, mounted on the deck.

A fixture that also existed on the Vikramaditya's original configuration as an Aircraft-Carrier Cruiser, Admiral Gorshkov, it is said to be capable of launching corresponding decoys, that could deceive either air-borne Anti-Ship Missiles or underwater torpedoes, which it drops into the water from the slide-like arrangement, seen circled in the picture [right].

Seen in the picture is the rocket-propelled Anti-Ship Missile decoy. One can verify it by observing the picture below, that shows the decoys in storage, whose cross-section matches that of the launched projectile, especially its nose.

The PK-2 is believed to be capable of launching a variety of decoys ranging from the passive chaff & flare dispensers, to active Radio Frequency [RF] decoys that lure missiles away from the actual physical target by simulating electromagnetic emissions as would be radiated by a comparable or bigger physical target.

Indian efforts towards developing indigenous countermeasure dispensers have resulted in the  Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. developing an anti-torpedo system. The State-owned Ordnance Factory Board [OFB] too has come up with a chaff dispenser, offering protection against Anti-Ship missiles. None, however, claim to be capable of launching active decoys, and are of a more focussed nature, in terms of the nature of protection they each offer, compared to the versatility of decoys that the PK-2 can launch.

The picture, below, shows a clear view of the PK-2's ZiF-21 launcher, mounted on the Vikramaditya, this one being on the fore, starboard side.

Godspeed

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Hat Tip to members of BR Forum, for correct identification