- Several media reports claimed Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) is set to begin the construction of an add-on Vikrant-class 40,000-odd tonne platform.
- Building the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier-2, or IAC-2 with upgrades, modifications and greater local content compared with IAC-1 Vikrant, is also intended to prevent CSL’s carrier-building expertise, from lapsing into disuse.
- The IAC-2 would supplement INS Vikramaditya, the 46,000-tonne refurbished Russian Kiev-class vessel and the 40,262-tonne short-take off barrier-arrested recovery (STOBAR) Vikrant, fulfilling the navy’s enduring requirement for one carrier each for its two seaboards, and another in reserve.
- Challenges to Aircraft carriers:
- The astronomical cost of around $5-6 billion
- Anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capability (multi-layered defensive strategy to deter enemy carrier operations) honed by China and Pakistan
- Recent advances in cruise missile technology are a serious threat
- Opportunity cost is a short supply of critical surface combatants like corvettes, nine-sweepers, destroyers, frigates, naval utility helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, and other assorted missiles and ordnance.
- Many navalists favoured upgrading the military capabilities of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, by creating an A2/AD maritime ‘exclusive zone’ around it to deter, amongst others, the hegemonic Chinese navy.
- And while the archipelago was undoubtedly ‘immovable’ it was likely to be cheaper than an aircraft carrier, besides being unsinkable.
Dig Deeper: What is China’s String of Pearls Theory and its counter; India’s Necklace of Diamonds?
