MUMBAI: India will formally commission its first home-built aircraft carrier on Friday, culmination of 17 years of construction and tests as country seeks to catch up with regional rival China and its far larger naval fleet. INS Vikrant, however will not have its own fleet of fighter jets on deck and instead will rely on a few Russian-designed aircraft borrowed from India’s only other carrier, INS Vikramaditya.

France’s Dassault and Boeing are locked in a race to provide Indian government with over two dozen jets earmarked for Vikrant, a 262 metre-long vessel built at state-run Cochin Shipyard in southern India. Indian Navy and India’s defence ministry did not respond to questions from Reuters. Designed by Indian Navy, carrier is largest warship to be built in country, able to accommodate a crew of around 1,600 and operate a fleet of 30 aircraft, including fighter jets and helicopters.

More than 75 percent of ship’s components are indigenously procured, with half a dozen major industrial firms and over 100 smaller businesses providing equipment and machinery, according to India’s defence ministry. Vikrant also lacks a naval radar system, recent images published by Navy suggested, said Prathamesh Karle, a naval analyst at defence intelligence company Janes. “It would hence take some time for Vikrant to be operationally deployed along with its aircraft,” Karle told. “Otherwise, aircraft carrier will not be able to be exploited optimally,” retired naval captain added. With Vikrant’s entry, India can deploy an aircraft carrier on both its eastern and western seaboards and expand its maritime presence, although Indian navy still lags behind key regional rival, China.

Published in The Daily National Courier, September, 01 2022

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