The Navy has invited nine Indian shipyards including four from private sector to compete for construction of the proposed second indigenous aircraft carrier. The ship capable of carrying more than 50 fighter jets will weigh 65,000 tons and can be either nuclear or diesel powered. The Defence Acquisition Council(DAC) had given the clearance for this project in May this year under the ‘Make in India’ policy and set aside Rs30 crore for feasibility study.
All the nine Indian players including five public sector shipyards like Mazagon Docks limited(MDl), Goa Shipyard, Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers(GRSE), Hindustan Shipyard and Cochin Shipyard besides private players comprising Pipavav, ABG, Bharti and larsen and Toubro were asked to respond to the expression of intent by July 21.
Giving this information here on Friday, Navy officials said the Defence Ministry has also set up a core committee headed by Assistant Controller of Carrier Project Rear Admiral Surendra Ahuja to identify the suitable Indian shipyard and to arrive at a build strategy.
The proposed aircraft carrier will be biggest warship as INS Vikramaditya weighs 45,000 tons while the under construction carrier INS Vikrant at Cochin is 40,000 tons. Moreover, Vikramaditya can carry 34 aircraft while Vikrant has the capacity to have 30 aircraft.
The specifications set by the Navy for the shipyards and sent to them on July 10 state that the proposed aircraft will either be nuclear-powered or conventional one using diesel and gas turbines. The ship’s flight deck for take-off and landing of fighter jets will have catapult besides fitted with anti-missile guns, anti-aircraft warfare and long range air surveillance radars, they said.