Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh Tripathi clarifies on 3rd Aircraft Carrier today: It is in plan

Back from Aero India, I raised it to the Indian Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh Tripathi on this critical matter in New Delhi today. I have argued for the need for a third aircraft carrier as the reports outside create ambiguity, a false narrative by some, including the media. CNS Admiral Tripathi clarified today at USI: "Indian Navy has never stated that the navy is junking the need for 3 aircraft carriers. It is not stated even by the government. Let me clear it first. We are fully convinced about the power of 3 IAC." He adds: "It is for the government to plan to go"

In fact, I wrote: Laying the keel of India’s third nuclear-powered aircraft carrier

The debate centres around the fact that India must develop its requisite maritime power due to its defining features and strategic lines around the Indian Ocean Region. An era of maritime makes a compelling case for laying the keel of the third IAC for creating technology, skills and industry for economic activities. So, that is where India’s maritime strategy calls for maritime infrastructure and capacity for a maritime security framework across the vast expanse of oceans to deter, project or combat transnational and other security challenges. It is beyond the realm of security. Now, it is no longer a question of why but when can we get three more carriers built.

What does it take then to lay the keel of India’s 3rd aircraft carrier?

The Specification of 3rd Aircraft Carrier

But if one looks at the industry requirements laid out by the Indian Navy in the letter of request it sent out to global shipbuilders in 2015, the displacement for IAC-2 was suggested as 300 metres (38 metres longer than IAC-1’s 262-metre displacement), its weight was suggested to be 65,000 tonnes (as opposed to IAC-1’s 45,000-tonne weight), and its intended speed was more than 30 knots or 56 km/h (against IAC-1’s 28 knot or 52 km/h top speed). In this context, the technological sophistication and investment required in the development of IAC-2 will naturally have to be multiple steps ahead of the current level of indigenous capabilities.

So, it is the era of maritime and India’s geography itself makes a compelling case for maritime expansion and ties. The shift that we are talking about in the present context is too apparent that maritime leads the discourse in geopolitics. The entire construct of foreign policies is now based on the strength of economic power.

Former Navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash once told me in this context as he referred to the global maritime powers: “The US Navy slogan, its carriers as, “4.5 acres of sovereign territory,” is an indicator of the value that a carrier brings to situations that require, ‘presence,’ ‘show of force,’ or humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,’ (HADR).”

The case of maritime industry 4.0

India’s warship and submarine-building industries have already made a vital contribution to its lagging industrialization. Undertaking the serial construction of complex ships like aircraft carriers has the potential to provide a huge impetus to our heavy & medium industries, and will spawn a?complex of ancillaries in the Maritime Industry,” Admiral Arun explains.

Take the case of IAC-1 when we analyse the sheer scale of industrial production and ancillary activities in the process. According to the Officials from the Ministry of Defence (MoD), over 76 per cent of the material and equipment on board IAC-1 is indigenous, including “21,500 tonnes of special grade steel developed indigenously and used in Indian Naval Ships for the first time”.

According to a report which talks about the scale of economic gains in taking such an exercise for an emerging maritime power like India, the Indian Navy has elaborated that over 50 Indian manufacturers were directly involved in the project, which is a result of the labours of more than 40,000 people who were employed directly or indirectly in its construction.

“More than three-fourths of the total project cost about INR 23,000 crore (85 % of the carrier’s project cost) has been reinjected into the Indian economy,” reports add. ?The carrier also directly employs on average 2,000 people every day.

N- Powered Indian Aircraft Carrier

Why do we not look at nuclear-powered aircraft carrier?as a third?option? What is the best fit if we look at the future of warfare especially in IOR and beyond?

Aircraft carriers powered by nuclear energy and assisted by logistical escort vessels to sustain the needs of the crew on deck can truly transform the narrative of establishing a blue water navy by functionalising a renewable, long-lasting, and self-sustainable source of energy to keep the carrier moving for over 10-20 years, with a 50-year lifespan in total. ( refer to FE's editorial I wrote).