India will build a second indigenous aircraft carrier in a $5 billion purchase to enhance its sea power and counter China's growing presence in its neighborhood.
An acquisition council led by India's defense chief, Rajnath Singh, approved the decision last week, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. It would be India's third carrier, alongside the Russian-built INS Vikramaditya and the INS Vikrant, the first variant to be made at home.
The slated addition to the Indian Navy's maritime capability will be crucial to New Delhi's search for greater influence in regional and international waters amid a shifting global power balance and rising tensions around territorial disputes in the Indo-Pacific region.
On November 30, Singh's council approved the acquisition of 156 light combat helicopters, 97 light combat aircraft and other defense article at the cost of over $25 billion, according to India's Defense Ministry. Plans for a new aircraft carrier, however, were not mentioned.
Aircraft carriers—large floating bases—will allow seafaring nations like India to project power at greater distances and for more extended periods.
The new carrier is projected to hold at least 28 fighter jets and helicopters and displace 45,000 tons of water, a common measurement of warship size. The Vikrant also displaces 45,000 tons.
The carrier is to be equipped with French-made Rafale jets, Bloomberg said, a decision reflecting India's ongoing military modernization and partial phasing out of older Soviet- and Russia-made hardware.
Shekhar Sinha, a former vice admiral in India's navy, said New Delhi's investment will help protect the country's vast economic interests in the region and counter any challenges from a regional adversary.
"We are only interested in protecting our economic interests and the security of our sea lanes of communication," Sinha told Newsweek, "Anyone who becomes an adversary by declaring some kind of offensive action against our people, including the army, navy or air force—we should be able to respond."
"But the Chinese also have a desire to keep India in its own place while they are on their way to take on the U.S. Navy. That appears to be the intention, though officially they don't say that," Sinha said.
New Delhi is closely watching Beijing's advancements in naval technology. China's latest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, could carry up to 60 aircraft, including 40 fighter jets, according to an analysis by the China Power Project at the Center for International and Strategic Studies, a think tank in Washington, D.C.
The Fujian—China's second homemade "flat-top" warship—has an estimated displacement of 80,000 ton. It was designed to match up to the U.S. Navy's best-in-class carriers, although the Chinese navy's know-how still lags several generations behind.
"The Fujian is larger than its predecessors, which will enable it to support a more robust airwing," the CSIS analysis said. China's existing carriers, the Soviet-made Liaoning and the domestically built Shandong, displace 60,000 tons and 66,000 tons, respectively.
The People's Liberation Army Navy is now the largest in the world with "an overall battle force of over 370 ships and submarines, including more than 140 major surface combatants," according to the Pentagon's latest assessment.
As of 2023, India had 132 warships, 143 planes and 130 helicopters. The Indian Navy is planning to boost its hull count to 175 ships in the near future, according to India's Deccan Herald, an English-language newspaper.
China's press downplayed India's naval achievements following the launch of the Vikrant in 2022.
The Paper, a news website run by a state media group in Shanghai, described the Indian carrier as an "incomplete" platform because it had yet to launch or recover any fighter aircraft.
India's navy demonstrated that operational capability this past May and June when carrier-based fighter jets including the MiG-29K successfully took off and landed on the Vikrant's deck, both during daytime and nighttime.
Update 4/12/23, 9:50 a.m. ET: This article was updated with the Indian government's updated acquisition plans.
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Aadil Brar is a reporter for Newsweek based in Taipei, Taiwan. He covers international security, U.S.-China relations, and East Asian ... Read more
