Two Carriers, One Ocean — INS Vikrant and India's Carrier Strategy

On 2 September 2022 the Indian Navy commissioned INS Vikrant, the first aircraft carrier designed and built in India. With INS Vikramaditya, the Navy now fields two 45,000-tonne carriers — one for each seaboard.

What Vikrant is

• Built by Cochin Shipyard over 13 years at about ₹20,000 crore.
• 262 metres long, 62 metres wide, 14 decks, a crew of about 1,600.
• Four LM2500 gas turbines for 28 knots; range of 7,500 nautical miles.
• Ski-jump take-off and arrested recovery (STOBAR) for MiG-29K fighters, with 26 Rafale-M on order and the indigenous twin-engine deck-based fighter (TEDBF) in design.
• Air wing of about 30 aircraft including MH-60R anti-submarine helicopters and Ka-31 airborne early warning.

Why carriers

The Indian Ocean is the Navy's theatre and it is enormous: 70 percent of the world's oil shipments and half its container traffic pass through it. A carrier group projects air power far beyond the reach of shore-based aircraft, protects sea lines of communication, and — in the Navy's doctrine — acts as the core of a "sea control" force rather than the "sea denial" that submarines provide.

China's rapid carrier build-up (Liaoning, Shandong, Fujian, with a fourth under construction) and its growing presence at Djibouti, Gwadar and Hambantota shape the argument for a third Indian carrier.

The third-carrier debate

The Navy has pushed for a 65,000-tonne catapult-equipped IAC-2. The alternatives on the table:

1. A repeat Vikrant from Cochin Shipyard — cheaper, faster, uses existing design and supply chain.
2. A larger CATOBAR carrier with electromagnetic launch — capability leap, but a 15-year, US$8-10 billion programme.
3. Redirecting the money to submarines — India's conventional fleet is down to about 16 ageing boats; Project 75I is years behind.

The Defence Acquisition Council's mood has favoured the repeat-Vikrant path as a bridge, with submarines getting priority in near-term capital allocation.

What to watch

• Rafale-M deliveries beginning 2028-29 and their integration on Vikrant's ski-jump.
• Progress on the TEDBF, which will define the air wing of the 2040s.
• The nuclear-attack submarine (SSN) programme, which competes for the same shipyard capacity and budget.

See specifications for INS Vikrant and Visakhapatnam-class destroyers in the equipment database.