The launch of INS Vikrant has raised hackles in China, with Chinese defence experts saying the aircraft carrier would would allow the Indian Navy to wade into the Pacific Ocean —which Beijing considers as its backyard.
“This bears great significance to Indian Navy. It makes India only the fifth country after the US, Russia, Britain and France to have such capabilities,” Senior Captain Zhang Junshe, Vice-President of China’s Naval Research Institute, informed on Monday.
The Indian Navy will have lead over China with two aircraft carriers by the end of this year, INS Vikramaditya and INS Viraat even though Vikrant was expected to be operational by 2018, he said.