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As India plays catch up with China’s aircraft carriers, high costs loom large
- New Delhi’s defence minister is ‘stargazed without a concrete plan in place’ in the face of tight budgetary constraints, analysts say
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India’s aspiration of owning five to six aircraft carriers might take “decades” and could be complicated by obstacles such as budget constraints and changing priorities, though having at least three to four such vessels would be ideal, according to observers.
India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said last month that his country would soon start building its third aircraft carrier, the proposed INS Vishal, adding that New Delhi “will not stop at that [three carriers]. We will make five, six more”.
The Indian Navy currently operates two 45,000-tonne aircraft carriers, the INS Vikramaditya and the INS Vikrant, both conventionally powered. The former was bought from Russia and deployed in 2014, while the latter was produced domestically and commissioned in 2022.
Singh’s comments came days after China’s third and latest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, completed its maiden test voyage. By the end of 2035, China is expected to have six aircraft carriers, making it the world’s second-largest blue-water navy after the United States, which currently has an 11-strong carrier fleet.
Swaran Singh, an international-relations professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, said the strategic challenge from China’s increasing naval presence across the Indian Ocean had been a matter of concern for Indian policymakers and defence planners.
But the time needed “from visionary blueprints to operational trial sails on blue oceans” was long, he said, and acquiring five to six carriers could take decades.
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