One more Vikrant for Indian Navy | 2nd IAC can be constructed in 5 years & ready in 8 years

3-Carrier based force structure

The Navy has been maintaining doctrine of three carriers-based force structure so that it can operate two of them in maritime zones on each side of the Indian coastline — eastern and western coasts. An aircraft carrier moves along with its Carrier Battle Group (CBG) which comprises of submarines, destroyers & other warships. It is capable of projecting air power beyond shore deep inside the ocean. It is complete military theatre with inherent flexibility and mobility to shift to a new theatre of operations in 48 to 72 hours.

Three aircraft carriers will ensure no gap in operational capability. If one aircraft carrier goes for maintenance which may sometimes take several months, the other two AC can secure the eastern and western seaboard.

During Agenda AajTak 2022 in the month of December, the defense minister Rajnath Singh has told that the planning has started for second indigenous aircraft carrier after the big achievement of INS Vikrant. The requirement of a third Aircraft Carrier for the Indian Navy has also been acknowledged by the Standing Committee on Defence.

However, the biggest question for Navy is to decide whether it will go for 2nd aircraft carrier of same tonnage as Vikrant i.e., close to 44,000 tons or a higher tonnage warship of 65,000 ton?

65,000-ton or 45,000-ton AC?

Designing and constructing an aircraft carrier of 65,000 ton is bigger task than constructing second Vikrant class aircraft carrier. The issues with INS Vikramaditya have been known to us and the warship very frequently undergoes maintenance. The warship’s hull will reach age of 50 years in 2032. As the ship ages out, its maintenance becomes more frequent and costly. It becomes more of a liability than an asset. Therefore, Navy would look to decommission the carrier after 2032, leaving it with only one aircraft carrier INS Vikrant. At the same time China has planned to have 10 aircraft carriers by 2050. Therefore, Navy needs to act soon and start the construction of an aircraft carrier as a replacement of Vikramaditya.

Repeat order of IAC-1

Considering multiple factors including construction time & cost involved Indian Navy has decided to go for repeat order of IAC-1.

Speaking to media during Aero Indian Show 2023, Admiral R Hari Kumar confirmed by saying, “Initially we will go for the repeat order with improved capabilities and in the meantime, we will go for study of larger carriers. Because the third aircraft which will come in and by the time it will be commissioned by that time the life of INS Vikramaditya may end.”

He also said that “the IAC 2 should be bigger than IAC 1 in size. The size of INS Vikrant is 44,000 tonnes and we wanted the IAC2 to be around 65,000 tonnes.”

Admiral Hari Kumar said, “When we have to design a new aircraft carrier, it will take time and we have to bring new technologies. For new design, the ship-building facility will have to be upgraded. So we thought if we went for the repeat order the work would start soon.”

In summary, Navy is going ahead with repeat order of IAC-1 as a replacement of Vikramaditya and continue the study in 65,000-ton class AC – which is the realistic way to proceed. Also, the 65,000-ton aircraft carrier will most likely use Catapult mechanism to launch the aircraft rather than Ski-jump mechanism.

How soon a new IAC-1 can be constructed?

The experience & skills gained from the construction of IAC-1 i.e., INS Vikrant by CSL has been significant. Though the first aircraft carrier took 13 years to build, CSL is confident in delivering the 2nd Aircraft carrier same as IAC Vikrant i.e., 45,000-ton capability in just 8 years.

In an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18 in September 2022, Madhu Nair, Chairman and Managing Director of Cochin Shipyard, revealed that the third carrier could be manufactured in just eight years, compared to 13 years that it took for INS Vikrant.

CSL is also confident in building the aircraft carriers that use the Electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) adopted in aircraft carriers of the US Navy.


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