India's Navy Wants Three Aircraft Carriers To Counter China

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Eurasian Times: Indian Navy Wants Three Aircraft Carriers To Counter China; Will Modi-Government Concede To Demands? 

India’s first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-1) Vikrant is going for Basin Trials this month, with reports stating that the sea trials will follow in December. The 40,000-tonne warship will be tested for propulsion, transmission and shafting systems during the trials, which were earlier scheduled for September but were delayed due to the pandemic. 

It will now take a year more before the mega-ship is commissioned into the Indian Navy, after which the flight trials will make it ready for battle. 

The delay in the induction of the carrier now seems to extend until early 2022 – something the country can hardly afford amidst the current stand-off with China. IAC-1 is expected to be equipped with a short take-off barrier arrested design (STOBAR), similar to India’s already operational INS Vikramaditya, but will field a slightly smaller air wing in terms of numbers. 

The Indian Navy has been aggressively pushing for a third aircraft carrier for a long time, especially after Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Bipin Rawat, in February this year indicated the government may not grant approval for the third carrier for now. 

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WNU Editor: India's newest carrier is already a year behind completion. As for the possibility of building two more. Those is no direction on what to build (i.e. a nuclear or a conventionally powered), and there is minimal political support to spend money to build them.