Government to refit ENS Vaskor to full operational standard, retire A-10K Siagerrils and seek new foreign-designed air wing

DEFENSE

Government to refit ENS Vaskor to full operational standard, retire A-10K Siagerrils and seek new foreign-designed air wing

President Varduk’s government has decided to keep Erisoria’s only aircraft carrier and return her to full readiness after years of reduced status. The Navy’s A-10K Siagerril strike aircraft will be retired, and a replacement air wing will be sought from foreign manufacturers.

By Orin Valdresh, Defense Correspondent | Belmiret

The Ministry of Defense announced on Friday that ENS Vaskor will undergo a comprehensive refit at the Belmiret National Shipbuilding Yard in Thessen, ending a period in which the ship has remained on the Navy’s commissioned register while spending most of the past several years docked. The plan to convert her into a museum ship has been cancelled, in what the navy has described as a “naval capability required to counter emerging potential adversary aircraft carrier fleets within Argis and beyond.”

The decision settles a question that has hung over the carrier since a defense review began in September, and it comes earlier than the early-2027 timetable the new government had indicated. A formal cost will be set out in the government’s 90-day fiscal plan, due in January.

The announcement appears to reverse the direction signaled in September, when sources said the review favored spending on asymmetric capability such as drones, anti-carrier weapons, and coastal denial over large surface platforms. Defense officials said that was not the case. The refit, they said, would sit alongside those programs, and the ship’s aviation facilities would be rebuilt to operate unmanned aircraft as well as crewed ones.

Officials pointed to Vaskor’s deployment into international waters last summer, her first sortie in years, as evidence that the hull is sound and worth the investment. They also said a refitted carrier would give Erisoria and its West Argic Security Pact partners an air cover and presence option in the Argic Ocean and Sakspati Sea that coastal systems cannot provide.

The A-10K Siagerril, a navalized derivative of a license-built Iverican design, specifically the SeT-93 Aguila, has been the ship’s principal aircraft since 2005. Navy sources said the type is now difficult to sustain and cannot be brought up to a standard the refitted ship would need. Officials said developing a naval variant of a domestic aircraft would not fit within the refit timetable, so the Ministry of Defense will invite proposals from foreign manufacturers.

The evaluation is expected to cover carrier-capable multirole fighters as well as airborne early warning aircraft and helicopters. The flight deck and arresting arrangements will be finalized once a type has been chosen, so that the refit and the aircraft selection proceed together. The Ministry has not named any candidate type or country yet. The Ministry of Defense is set to tap the International Contracting Office to invite potential suppliers of the A-10Ks’ replacement.

Until the refit is complete, Erisoria will have no carrier aviation capability. Navy pilots will be reassigned to other units or sent for training on the selected type.

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