Indian Navy’s incorporation of a third aircraft carrier is a step towards achieving India’s blue water navy vision

Given India’s naval strength in carrying out diverse operations ranging from providing regional Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR) to engaging in counterpiracy operations in the Gulf of Aden, it is no surprise that maritime practitioners refer to the Indian navy as a powerful blue force in the making. Undoubtedly, step one towards fulfilling India’s blue water navy vision would be to acquire and incorporate into the forces, key emerging technologies that can support diverse naval operations and enable greater efficiency in performance. These technologies must manifest themselves in both, conventional developments such as destroyers, frigates, submarines, and aircraft carriers, as well as in relatively novel developments such as unmanned marine systems and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Step one towards fulfilling India’s blue water navy vision would be to acquire and incorporate into the forces, key emerging technologies that can support diverse naval operations and enable greater efficiency in performance.

Even in discussions surrounding the induction of a third aircraft carrier into the Indian Navy, heavy focus is being given to the incorporation of technologies such as the Electromagnetic Air Lift System (EMALS), which was disseminated to India by the US defence company, General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems Inc. in 2017, as well as the Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR) system used in advanced aircraft carriers for the purpose of ‘catapulting’ aircrafts (especially heavy-weight fighters) and ‘assisting’ their landing back on the carrier using arrestor wires. INS Vikrant (also knowns as Indigenous Aircraft Carrier or IAC-1), has been indigenously developed at the Cochin Shipyard (Limited) and has completed its third sea trials in January, using a STOBAR (Short Take-Off by Arrested Recovery) system with three arrestors cables capable of securing the landing of one aircraft at a time. It is suitable for the launch of relatively lower weight fighter aircrafts (such as MiG-29K) housed by IAC-1. But if one looks at the industry requirements laid out by the Indian Navy in the letter of request it sent out to global shipbuilders in 2015, the displacement for IAC-2 was suggested as 300 metres (38 metres longer than IAC-1’s 262-metre displacement), its weight was suggested to be 65,000 tonnes (as opposed to IAC-1’s 45,000-tonne weight), and its intended speed was more than 30 knots or 56 km/h (against IAC-1’s 28 knot or 52 km/h top speed). In this context, the technological sophistication and investment required in the development of IAC-2 will naturally have to be multiple steps ahead of the current level of indigenous capabilities.

Does India Need A Third Aircraft Carrier?

For India, its aircraft carriers are more than just a tool for military muscle flexing in the Indo-Pacific–they act as cheaper alternatives to overseas military bases and guarantee that in conflict situations, fighter aircrafts and long-range surveillance would be available on-ground. In doing so, aircraft carriers fulfil the timely combat requirements that shore-based assets cannot. In the words of the former Indian Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh, for India, “Air power at sea is required here and now”. As per the Indian Maritime Security Doctrine developed by the Indian Navy in 2015, when developed into Carrier Battle Groups (CBGs), naval fleets headed by aircraft carriers form part of the country’s larger battle-readiness and tactical maritime doctrine that have the capacity to potentially destabilise command control and counter-strike capabilities of enemy forces. In this regard, CBGs centred around aircraft carriers shall further the Indian naval “Sea Control” doctrine and make use of composite task forces to create mobile airfields at sea.

Indian carriers are also equipped with the BrahMos supersonic anti-ship missile (with a 292-km range), enabling them to carry out sophisticated sea-to-land precision attacks.

While the naysayers argue that the aircraft carriers are sitting ducks for long-range anti-ship ballistic missiles, it is crucial to note that the carriers’ own mobility, as well as the protection provided to them by escort vessels (including frigates, corvettes, destroyers, and even supply ships) make them a highly secure wartime investment. Indian carriers are also equipped with the BrahMos supersonic anti-ship missile (with a 292-km range), enabling them to carry out sophisticated sea-to-land precision attacks. And in peacetime, they act as providers of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, complementing the roles of amphibious and other air and sealift mechanisms. This has been evidenced by the use of US’s Nimitz class aircraft carriers in the Indo-Pacific region to provide disaster relief to Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines during events like earthquakes, super typhoons, and tsunamis.

Aircraft carriers powered by nuclear energy and assisted by logistical escort vessels to sustain the needs of crew on deck, can truly transform the narrative of establishing a blue water navy by functionalising a renewable, long-lasting, and self-sustainable source of energy to keep the carrier moving for over 10-20 years, with a 50-year lifespan in total. Taking this into account, a sophisticated nuclear-powered aircraft carrier today (say, the American Nimitz-Class aircraft carriers) in peacetime, without replenishment, and of course, without refuelling. In wartime, the time period may reduce to up to one to three months, which is still significantly higher than the one-to-two-week deadline on the refuelling and replenishment of an oil-powered aircraft carrier in active service. Not to mention, a nuclear-powered (N-powered) aircraft carrier may still appear on shore only to restock its fridges, but not to undergo the lengthy Refuelling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH) processes that aviation-fuel powered aircraft carriers would require. N-powered carriers need RCOH only once in their mid-life stage (at up to 25 years after being commissioned).

A nuclear-powered (N-powered) aircraft carrier may still appear on shore only to restock its fridges, but not to undergo the lengthy Refuelling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH) processes that aviation-fuel powered aircraft carriers would require.

That said, the costs of development and tech-fitting for an aircraft carrier are astronomical. Currently, India has operationalised only one conventional aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, a modified Kiev-class carrier, on its western seaboard. INS Vikrant, India’s second aircraft carrier is undergoing sea trials since August 2021 and is set to be commissioned this year. This is to be deployed on India’s eastern seaboard after one year of infrastructural completion alongside INS Vikramaditya on the western coast. While INS Vikramaditya was purchased from Russia for a price of US$ 2.35 billion in 2004, INS Vikrant is indigenously developed (IAC-1), the cost of the project has been estimated to be US$ 3.1-3.5 Billion. But in total, INS Vikramaditya cost India US$ 10-11 Billion, including its overhaul costs and costs of ordnance on board. In that light, a nuclear-powered carrier for India would bear upon the exchequer the added costs of updated technicalities and of designing and fitting in a nuclear reactor that can meet the space and size demands of IAC-2. Given the costs faced by the Navy in fiscal years 2019-20 and 2020-21, investments in capabilities that can help achieve immediate-term goals such as Sea Denial (like submarines and fighter jets), especially in the face of rapid development of Chinese A2/AD capabilities, seem more plausible for Indian naval forces.

On the other hand, as evidenced by the case of INS Vikrant (IAC-1), not only did the navy report that about INR 23,000 crore (85 percent of the carrier’s project cost) were already reinjected into the Indian economy, the carrier also provides direct employment to 2,000 people every day. In an economy strapped by joblessness, the approval for a third, nuclear-powered carrier would provide much-needed job opportunities to work in the carrier project both on-board and at home.

Way Forward

From a techno-logistical perspective, and taking into account the INR 46,323 crore budgetary allocation made to the Indian Navy for fiscal year 2022-23, the naval forces can first consider investing in bridging critical security gaps across existent platforms. For example, INS Vikramaditya, which was referred to as “state-of-the-art” by senior naval official Rear Admiral S. Madhusudanan (Retd.) in 2013, has been involved with accidents concerning hydraulic overload and toxic smoke inhalation. Soon, the overuse of our carriers will also have to be addressed—it is being witnessed amongst American aircraft carriers like USS Henry S. Truman and USS Dwight Eisenhower. Overuse causes burnout and necessitates frequent refurbishment and maintenance (as was also seen in the case of INS Viraat, India’s longest serving carrier decommissioned in 2017).

The successful incorporation of catapult-assisted take-off in IAC-2, in place of the conventional “ski-jump”, can help complement the efficient use of twin-engine carrier-based fighters such as the Dassault Rafale-M.

In the long run, however, the operationalisation of a third aircraft carrier will be useful. Enhancing indigenous development capabilities can help lower acquisition costs, while installation of a hybrid Electric propulsion-CATOBAR system can provide an edge largely as significant as that provided by a nuclear-powered carrier. The successful incorporation of catapult-assisted take-off in IAC-2, in place of the conventional “ski-jump”, can help complement the efficient use of twin-engine carrier-based fighters such as the Dassault Rafale-M. The compatibility of Rafale-M with INS Vikrant’s ski-jump is currently under test at a shore-based facility in Goa, and its results can provide technical insights into the potential design requirements for a third carrier’s flight launch deck.

Finally, India-US partnership, especially through the Joint Working Group on Aircraft Carrier Technology under the Defence and Technology Trade Initiative, can present bright prospects for modernisation of carrier-based capabilities, especially in the field of unmanned systems. In November 2021, a sitting of the JWG on Air Systems concluded in a bilateral agreement establishing an Air-Launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicles project. Given the success of the American Northrop Grumman X-47B carrier-based drones programme, the Carrier Tech JWG must also look into the deliberations around acquisition and subsequent incorporation of unmanned systems. In the long-run, carrier-based drones can provide Indian aircraft carriers significant advantages in the fields of Sea Control and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR).