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India Launches New Aircraft Carrier As it Celebrates 75 Years of Independence
On Friday, India commissioned its first aircraft carrier built at home in an effort to counter China’s much larger and growing fleet. In addition, to expanding its own shipbuilding capabilities.
INS Vikrant, which means “powerful” or “courageous,” is India’s second operational aircraft carrier, following the Soviet-era INS Vikramaditya it purchased from Russia in 2004.
In celebration of the country’s 75th anniversary of independence from British rule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a 262-meter (860-foot) carrier designed by the Indian navy and built at the Cochin shipyard.
Modi emphasized the significance of India being one of the very few countries with a carrier program that is indigenous. He called it a historic day and a landmark achievement. It is an example of the government’s push to make India’s defense sector self-reliant.”
The Indian navy said the new jump carrier is the country’s largest warship, capable of carrying around 1,600 crew members and operating a fleet of 30 aircraft, including fighter jets and helicopters.
According to the Defense Ministry, over 75% of India’s aircraft carrier’s components are indigenously procured. This includes equipment and machinery provided by half a dozen major industrial firms and over 100 smaller businesses.
Defense experts report that a six-year delay of its building in India resulted in a six-fold price increase to 200 billion rupees ($2.5 billion) at present.
Initially, the 47,400-ton warship will undergo landing trials with the Russian-made MiG-29K fighter aircraft made for India by the end of 2023.
A total of 24 new fighter aircraft are planned for the carrier, including Dassault’s Rafale-M and Boeing’s F/A-18 Block III Super Hornet.
In the meantime, it will rely on Russian aircraft borrowed from the only other carrier in India, said Rahul Bedi, a defense expert.
Over the past few years, China has expanded its reach into the Indian Ocean and Pacific.
As recently as August, it sent a navy vessel to a Chinese-built port in Sri Lanka despite fears about the security of such a port call off its own coast. The ship was described by Beijing as a research vessel, but India believed it was a dual-use spy vessel that could be used for surveillance.
As a result of concerns about China’s growing assertiveness, India’s navy sent four warships last year to Southeast Asia, the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific for exercises with the United States, Japan and Australia, according to the Defense Ministry of India.
In his remarks on Friday, Modi said there has been a long-standing neglect of security concerns in the Indo-Pacific region and the Indian Ocean.
Today, this area is a major defense priority for our country. From increasing the navy’s budget to increasing its capacity, we are working in every direction,” he said.
As a result of China’s disputes with its neighbors, such as Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, and China, the vast maritime region has been tense. The undersea oil and gas deposits occupy a strategically crucial waterway that is the subject of competing claims.
The People’s Liberation Army Navy of China, or PLAN, has been modernizing for more than a decade in order to become a “blue water” force capable of operating globally rather than near the Chinese mainland.
It is estimated that the PLAN currently has 355 ships, including submarines, according to the Pentagon, which predicts the force will reach 420 ships by 2025 and 460 ships by 2030.
In June, its third aircraft carrier was launched with an electromagnetic system similar to the one the United States uses in its new carriers. In India, aircraft are launched using a traditional “ski jump” system.
The Indian Navy has two aircraft carriers, ten destroyers, 12 frigates, and 20 corvettes in its fleet.
Indian aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya was built in 1987 by the Soviet Union.
The ship served with the Soviet navy under the name Admiral Gorshkov and later with the Russian navy before it was decommissioned in 1996. It was purchased by India for $2.35 billion in 2004.
Source: AP
