India commissions its first indigenously built aircraft carrier after 17 years of construction
Asia-Pacific, News September 3, 2022 1 Comment on India commissions its first indigenously built aircraft carrier after 17 years of constructionIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioned India’s first home-built aircraft carrier ship, INS Vikrant, on September 2, 2022.
It took India 17 years of construction and testing before the new ship became operational for the use of the Indian Navy. INS Vikrant was built in India’s largest state-owned shipyard in the south.
During the commissioning ceremony, Prime Minister Modi said that the ship is a symbol of India’s “indigenous potential, indigenous resources and indigenous skills.” Modi said that “Today, India has joined those countries in the world which can manufacture such a huge aircraft carrier with indigenous technology.”
The 262 meters long and 59 meters high INS Vikrant can accommodate a crew of 1600 officers and sailors, as well as a fleet of 30 fighter jets. The carrier has 14 decks with a drought of 8.4 meters. Vikrant lacks the fleet of its own fighter jets and aircraft. The ship would rely on Russian-made MiG-29K fighter jets and FA-18F Super Hornets. India operates the same MiG-29K fighter jets from its other aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, which India bought from Russia.
India is trying to strike a deal with Boeing and France’s Dassault aviation company to provide more than two dozen jets for the INS Vikrant. However, the deal is still in its initial phases.
Experts have questioned India’s decision of producing an aircraft carrier without a dedicated fleet of aircraft. Some analysts and experts said that INS Vikrant is not a battle-worthy platform unless it has its own fleet of aircraft and fighter jets.
INS Vikrant is India’s second aircraft carrier. India’s first aircraft carrier is a Soviet-era INS Vikramaditya which was built in 1987 and served in the Soviet navy under the name of Admiral Gorshkov. India purchased the ship in 2004 for $2.33 billion.
India has a large coastline and a huge Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to protect. The Indian navy has 10 destroyers, 12 frigates, and 20 corvettes. INS Vikrant will significantly add to India’s maritime capabilities, allowing its navy and air force to operate on all seaboard. However, India’s maritime security capabilities are still far less compared to China, that a fleet of 335 vessels, 48 destroyers, 43 frigates, and 61 corvettes.
India has one of the largest militaries in the Indo-Pacific region. India employs some 1.38 million people in its armed forces, with a large number deployed along the border of its nuclear-armed rival neighbor Pakistan.
India is also one of the world’s largest arms importers and spent almost $12.4 billion between 2018 and 2021. In order to curtail its spending on weapons imports, India plans to enhance its local weapons manufacturing industry.
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