Navy pushes for third aircraft carrier after INS Vikrant to retain edge over China in Indian Ocean Region | India News

NEW DELHI/KOCHI: With China aggressively building new aircraft carriers and a blue-water navy to counter the US and project power around the globe, the Indian Navy is now pushing hard for its long-standing case for a third and much bigger aircraft carrier to retain its combat edge in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
With India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) set to be commissioned as the 45,000-tonne INS Vikrant on September 2, the Navy believes the project for a third carrier should be launched as soon as possible since it will take at least a decade to build a 65,000-tonne one.

The force has for long said three carriers are needed to ensure at least two are operationally available, one each for the eastern and western seaboards, while the third undergoes its maintenance-and-refit cycle.
India, incidentally, has been without an operational aircraft carrier for almost two years now since the 44,500-tonne INS Vikramadityaacquired from Russia for $2.33 billion in November 2013, is undergoing a major refit.
“The indigenous ecosystem has been created by building the IAC. The stage is now well set to take the next step forward to indigenously build the next aircraft carrier to ensure the expertise gained is utilized to the maximum in times to come,” Navy vice chief Vice Admiral Satish N Ghormade said on Thursday.

INS Vikrant, once fully combat-ready by mid-2023, will play a role in ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. “Commissioning of the carrier will provide the required deterrence, considering the growing strength of our neighbours, and enhance our maritime capability,” he added.
After building the Rs 20,000-crore IAC, which took 13 years from keel-laying to delivery after being first sanctioned by the government way back in January 2003, the Cochin Shipyard (CSL) is all gung-ho for the next carrier project.
“Now, once we get the go-ahead, we can build a warship similar to IAC in eight years. We can even build a 65,000-tonne carrier since our new 310-meter dry dock will be ready by 2024,” CSL CMD Madhu S Nair told TOI.

Even as the Navy is holding “deliberations” with the defence ministry on the proposed IAC-2, the prevalent view is the new carrier should be at least 65,000-tonne to ensure requisite combat capability and cost-effectiveness. This will ensure the carrier can carry more aircraft than the 30 capacity of the IAC.
Moreover, the IAC-2 should have CATOBAR (catapult assisted take-off but arrested recovery) configuration to launch fighters as well as heavier aircraft for surveillance, early-warning and electronic warfare from its deck. Both INS Vikramaditya and IAC have only angled ski-jumps for fighters to take off under their own power in STOBAR (short take-off but arrested recovery) operations.

China already operates two carriers, Liaoning and Shandong, and is fast building two more with CATOBAR configuration. The third Chinese carrier, the over 80,000-tonne Fujian, was `launched’ in June. The US, of course, has 11 `super’ 100,000-tonne nuclear-powered carriers, each of which carries 80-90 fighters and aircraft.