India will soon commence building its third aircraft carrier and has plans to make “five or six more,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced on Tuesday, just days after China’s third and latest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, completed its maiden test voyage. Singh’s remarks highlight India’s ambitious plans to expand its naval capabilities amidst growing regional tensions.
India’s Aircraft Carrier Plans
Singh made these comments in relation to the Indian Navy’s proposal to build another indigenous aircraft carrier, similar in size to the INS Vikrant, which weighs 45,000 tonnes and was commissioned in September 2022. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence had also recommended the need for a third aircraft carrier, emphasizing that their reach and flexibility are “far superior to military airfields in far-flung island territories.”
For some time, Indian military planners have projected the need for three carriers. Singh’s recent comments suggest that India aims to significantly expand its carrier fleet. “We will not stop at three aircraft carriers. We will make five, six more,” Singh told The Tribune.
However, Singh did not provide a timeline for the construction of these future carriers or details on their size and design—whether they would be conventionally powered like India’s current carriers or nuclear powered.
Given the cost and the time taken to design, build, outfit, and operationalize a carrier, it is unlikely that the Indian Navy will operate a fleet of eight or nine carriers simultaneously. Some of these future ships, if built, will likely replace the navy’s existing carrier fleet.
Current Indian Aircraft Carriers
At present, the Indian Navy operates two 45,000-tonne aircraft carriers, the INS Vikramaditya and the INS Vikrant. Both are conventionally-powered carriers that use ski-jump ramps to assist aircraft takeoffs. The INS Vikrant, India’s first indigenous carrier, was constructed by Cochin Shipyard Ltd, while the INS Vikramaditya was bought from Russia and operationally deployed in 2014.
China’s Aircraft Carrier Ambitions
The defence minister’s remarks could indicate a new carrier construction target for India, helping the Indian Navy keep pace with what experts project to be China’s “multi-carrier force” plan.
China has the resources required to field up to five aircraft carriers by 2030, according to a 2022 report by the US think tank Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment. The ‘China’s Choices’ report on Beijing’s ongoing military expansion also noted that “the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has the resources necessary to continue its modernization over the 2020s.”
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The Pentagon’s 2023 annual report on China’s military power estimates that the size of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is more than 370 ships, making it the largest navy in the world, while the US Navy has a combat-ready fleet of 291. However, according to globalfirepower.com, a total of 21 aircraft carriers are in operation around the world, with the US alone accounting for 11.
Keeping pace with China’s carrier-building capacity will be a challenge for India, given that a declassified intelligence slide from the US Office of Naval Intelligence estimates that China has 232 times the shipbuilding capability of even the US.
China has indeed been utilizing this shipbuilding capability. On May 8, China’s third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, returned after completing its eight-day maiden test voyage, with Chinese experts stating that this marked a concrete step towards its commissioning.
Technological Advancements
China currently operates two conventionally-powered, ski-jump ramp aircraft carriers, the 60,000 tonne-class Liaoning and Shandong. Unlike its predecessors, the 80,000 tonne-class Fujian is equipped with three electromagnetic catapults to launch aircraft. The Fujian’s catapults, powered by an electromagnetic system similar to that of the US Navy’s Gerald R Ford-class carrier, represent a technological leap over the ski-jump mechanism used by Indian and other Chinese carriers. They also surpass the steam-powered catapults used in past US carriers.
A catapult launch allows Fujian’s jets to carry heavier payloads and enables the carrier to launch heavier aircraft more efficiently. Once operational, the Fujian will be able to deploy up to 70 aircraft, including J-15 fighter jets.
However, the Fujian is smaller than the US Navy’s Gerald R Ford-class carrier, which has a displacement of 100,000 tonnes and can carry over 75 aircraft. The measure of a carrier’s power is its air wing, with these ships being capable of carrying roughly one aircraft for each 1,000 tonnes of displacement. Both the Vikramaditya and Vikrant can carry 25-30 fixed-wing aircraft, along with 10 helicopters. Given that India’s third aircraft carrier will be of the same size as INS Vikrant, it will likely have a similar air wing size.
India had previously planned to build a 65,000-tonne third carrier, which would have had an air wing comprising 54 fighters. Deliberations had also taken place on making this proposed ship, called Indigenous Aircraft Carrier-2 (IAC-2), nuclear powered and equipping it with electromagnetic catapults.
Future Prospects
If China’s fourth carrier does turn out to be nuclear powered, it would represent another technological leap for the PLAN, joining the US Navy in operating a ‘supercarrier,’ an informal term used to describe larger and more advanced carriers.
In conclusion, while India has ambitious plans to expand its aircraft carrier fleet, matching China’s rapid pace of carrier development will be a significant challenge. The strategic and technological advancements made by China in recent years underscore the importance for India to accelerate its carrier-building initiatives and consider adopting advanced technologies to enhance its naval capabilities.