With the launch of India's first indigenous aircraft carrier, just two days after the reactor on the country’s first indigenous nuclear-powered submarine, INS Arihant, went into operation, the country's defence preparedness has touched new heights.
On Monday, as INS Vikrant was floated out of its building bay at Cochin Shipyard, India was one step closer to fulfilling its operational commitments in the Indian Ocean Region that had been envisaged way back as 1948. Since then, the Navy has always wanted three aircraft carriers — one deployed in the Bay of Bengal, another in the Arabian Sea while a third goes into maintenance. However, for the most part, it has had only two aircraft carriers and both of them were purchased from the British: The first, INS Vikrant, which played an important role in the 1971 war; and INS Viraat, which has held fort all by itself since 1997 when the elder Vikrant was decommissioned. The new warship, when it is commissioned possibly five years down the line, will give India's naval strength a much-needed boost. Also, if by that time the Russian carrier that India has bought, Admiral Gorshkov (to be renamed INS Vikramaditya), can be entered into service, it will be the proverbial cherry on the cake, given the geo-politics of the region. China, for instance, has been flexing its muscles in the Asia-Pacific as its territorial disputes with almost all its neighbours prove. If India is serious about being a regional power, it can’t afford to let Beijing stomp all over its neighbourhood. In fact, the rest of the world is looking to India to provide the necessary counter-balance in the region.
In this context, it is especially satisfying to note that India beat China in building an indigenous warship. China's first aircraft carrier which entered into service in September 2012, was purchased from Ukraine, even though Beijing’s defence research capabilities are more advanced than India's. The launch of INS Vikrant has ushered India into an elite club of countries that includes only four others which are capable of designing and building a carrier of this size. Designed by the Directorate of Naval Design, INS Vikrant has been built from scratch at Cochin, with 90 per cent of its hull being constructed with military-grade steel produced by Steel Authority of India. However, only 60 per cent of its propulsion gear and no more than 30 per cent of its weaponry is indigenous — the engines are American, the guns are Italian and Russian, while the air defence system will probably be Israeli. When one takes into consideration the fact that the Chinese, having imported the hull of their aircraft carrier, have since fitted it with their own guns and engines, it means one needs to do more here.