A milestone for Indian Navy, defence industry

The start of sea trials of India’s Indigenous Aircraft Carrier 1 last week was an important milestone in the progress of the country’s indigenous defence industry. It carries the name of the Indian Navy’s first aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, which did distinguished service from 1961 to 1997, and played a crucial role during the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971. The new INS Vikrant is especially important for the Navy and the nation because it is the country’s first largely indigenously designed and built carrier. Its predecessor INS Vikrant, and INS Virat which was inducted into the Navy in 1982, were British-made ships. INS Vikramaditya, which is in service now, is of Russian origin. The new INS Vikrant was built at the Cochin shipyard and is said to be 75 per cent indigenous. The building of the aircraft carrier marks the country's entry into the club of six countries — the US, the UK, Spain, Russia, France and China — which have the capability to design and build an aircraft carrier.

The Navy has announced that the performance of the key systems was satisfactory after the carrier successfully completed its maiden sea voyage. The 40,000-tonne ship will host MiG-29K fighters, Kamov 31 helicopters and the Seahawk copters to be acquired from the US. It was built at a cost of Rs 23,000 crore. It is equipped with the most modern technology and will have a crew of about 1,300 personnel, including women officers. The aircraft carrier project was approved in 1999 and went through a long design phase; the keel was laid in 2009 and the ship was initially planned to be commissioned in 2014, but has been plagued by delays. The Navy has been demanding one more aircraft carrier ever since work on INS Vikrant started. If the plan had been approved, it would now have been time for the second carrier to sail into the sea.

The carrier will need more trials and is now expected to join the Navy only by August 2022. It will give a major boost to the country’s defence capabilities as it can project India’s power far outside its territorial wars. Such projection becomes important in view of the changing geostrategic situation, with China becoming more assertive both in the Pacific Ocean and in the Indian Ocean. India’s participation in the Quad grouping of four countries, in which others are all naval powers, makes the rise of Indian Navy's profile more imperative. There are reports that China plans to have five aircraft carriers in its naval fleet by 2030. India will need greater capabilities on land, sea and air to protect its interests.