Indian Navy Moves Mega Deal To Buy Second Indigenous Aircraft Carrier

NEW DELHI: In a major push to the indigenisation in the military, the Indian Navy has moved a mega proposal to the government for building the second aircraft carrier to be constructed by the Cochin Shipyard Limited. A proposal has been received by the Defence Ministry for building and acquiring the second indigenous aircraft carrier which would be known as the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier-2, defence officials told ANI.

The Defence Ministry would be shortly discussing the proposal moved by the Indian Navy as one of the biggest programmes under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Aatmanirbharta (self reliance) programme in defence sector, they said. The programme will create several thousand direct and manifold indirect jobs through the Cochin Shipyard Limited in Kerala when the work on the IAC-2 is approved by the government.

The first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant was commissioned by Prime Minister Modi in Kochi in September last year where the expertise developed by Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) in building such large size ships was applauded. The Indian Navy has been pressing for three aircraft carriers to maintain at least one carrier on each coast with one in refit. With three aircraft carriers, the Indian Navy would also be keeping pace with all the navies deployed in the Indo-Pacific region, officials said.

The Indian Navy is also going to get 26 new Rafale fighter aircraft for the INS Vikrant and also looking to buy the indigenous Twin engine Deck L-based Fighter aircraft which are now expected to be produced in large numbers to be deployed on the three carriers. Admiral R Hari Kumar had recently stated that INS Vikrant, the indigenously built aircraft carrier, will be based in Visakhapatnam. INS-Vikrant was a landmark event for India and all-out efforts are on to make it (INS-Vikrant) fully operational by November 2023.

Recently the Indian Navy Mig-29K fighter jet landed on the INS Vikrant for the first time at night, an important step towards the warship becoming fully operational along with its air wing by the year-end. The Indian Navy has given assurances to the government that the sea-force will become Atmanirbhar (self-reliant) by 2047. The Naval force aims to have a made-in-India security solution for the country and the Navy has been encouraging and giving incentives to the start-ups and MSMEs for self-reliance, he had stated.