- “We are not going to stop at (three aircraft carriers),” India’s defence minister said recently.
- With five or six aircraft carriers, India would be on par with China in terms of military strength.
- “Unfortunately, the country lacks the capital for large airlines,” the analyst told BI.
Comments from India’s Defense Minister suggest that India may build a fleet of five to six new aircraft carriers, but there is widespread debate as to whether this is a good strategy or just a casual remark.
The Indian Navy currently operates two small aircraft carriers, and adding four more would bring India’s carrier force on par with China’s growing one, and at least in terms of ship numbers, not far behind the U.S. Navy’s 11 supercarriers.
But whether this ambitious shipbuilding project will come to fruition is another matter. Many Indian experts are convinced it’s a bad idea.
It’s unclear what exactly the Indian government has in mind. Speaking about plans for a third aircraft carrier in an interview with The Indian Press, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said India will build more. “We’re not going to stop at three,” he said. “We’re going to build five or six more.”
Some Indian experts question whether the government is even serious about the matter. The Indian defense minister “appears to have made some off-the-cuff remarks that were picked up by the media,” Abhijit Singh, a former Indian naval officer and now an analyst at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi think tank, told Business Insider. “He was just trying to dispel the perception that the government was resisting the idea of building a third aircraft carrier.”
Still, there are compelling reasons why India wants a large carrier fleet. India’s rival China has three carriers, including the newly launched 80,000-ton Fujian, and may aim for a six-carrier fleet by 2035. China, which fought a border war with India in the Himalayas in 2020, is beginning to project its power into India’s maritime backyard, the Indian Ocean.
“China is expected to permanently deploy one of the CBGs. [carrier battle groups] “Military operations are being carried out in the Indian Ocean with the support of various bases in Djibouti (at the western end of the Indian Ocean), Ream in Cambodia (at the eastern end of the Indian Ocean), Gwadar in Pakistan, Hambantota in Sri Lanka and Kyaukphyu in Myanmar,” India’s Swarajya magazine warned.
Interestingly, Swarajya also suggests that the carrier could project Indian power into China’s maritime backyard, the South China Sea, where Indian warships regularly sail.
India has two aircraft carriers of about 45,000 tons each: Vikramaditya (a converted Soviet ship) and Vikrant (India’s first indigenously built aircraft carrier). Both are ski-jump designs and lack catapults, so launch the problematic Soviet-era MiG-29Ks under their own power. It was initially speculated that the proposed third carrier would be a 65,000-ton ski-jump design similar to the British Queen Elizabeth class, but it appears the Indian government has opted for a 45,000-ton carrier similar to Vikrant, to house French-made Rafale fighter jets.
This means that India’s aircraft carriers will remain less than half the size of the US’s Nimitz-class and Ford-class behemoths, which are 100,000-ton nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. These carriers are equipped with steam or electromagnetic catapults and can launch heavier aircraft, especially airborne early warning aircraft. China’s Fujian also uses advanced electromagnetic catapults. India’s third carrier will also be cheaper, estimated at about $5 billion compared to $13 billion for the Ford-class carriers.
Indeed, some Indian naval experts would prefer a larger aircraft carrier with a catapult. “Small carriers like the one India has are increasingly vulnerable and unlikely to play a significant role in a future conflict,” defense analyst Singh said. “Unfortunately, India does not have the funds to build a larger carrier and can only afford one more small one. This presents a predicament that is not easily solved.”
On the other hand, there is a reason why the US builds aircraft carriers at huge expense: its global interests require the ability to deploy and maintain floating airfields around the world, often in remote locations lacking airbases. For India and China, which have a more regional focus, smaller ships may be sufficient.
For India, an aircraft carrier is more than just a floating airfield. It is a symbol of national power. So, regardless of their military utility against a powerful adversary like China, they also enable India to support other operations like humanitarian assistance, peacekeeping, and anti-piracy.
“There is consensus among Indian maritime observers that aircraft carriers remain central to India’s maritime strategy, not just for their ability to dominate the littoral but also for their critical role in peacetime,” said Abhijit Singh. “In situations short of war, aircraft carriers can shift the psychological balance in ways that other naval platforms cannot. Despite their shortcomings, the aura and influence of an aircraft carrier in peacetime operations is unmatched.”
Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy and other publications. He holds a Master’s in Political Science from Rutgers University. twitter and LinkedIn.
