NEW DELHI: India’s first aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya’s sea trials will commence soon. It is expected to come out of major refitment at Karwar Naval base end of this month and will be at the centre of events when Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the Combined Commanders Conference in March.
The carrier is expected to start sailing in the high sea, especially in Indo-Pacific, to stem the threat of India’s number one enemy, China.
While the Indian Navy expects flight trials on both INS Vikramaditya and its successor INS Vikrant to take place before monsoon, the two operational aircraft carriers will add heft to India’s naval footprint in the Indo-Pacific.
A decision on the procurement of 26 maritime strike fighters including eight trainers for INS Vikrant will also be taken soon with French Rafale-M and US F-18 being the two principal contenders.
According to defence ministry sources, with two operational aircraft carriers at the end of this year, Indian national security planners will have to evolve a doctrine that defines the objectives or missions of these two carrierbased strike forces beyond the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. Simply put, India does not need two aircraft carriers for maritime dominance in Arabian Sea or Bay of Bengal but to project power in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.
Given that Chinese Navy’s armadas with three aircraft carriers are expected to patrol in the Indian Ocean by 2025, the Indian carrierbased forces will counter the PLA Navy while deepening naval cooperation with QUAD navies in the Indo-Pacific.
Already PLA strategic surveillance vessels are mapping the Indian Ocean including the 90 degree ridge and the five ingress straits to South China Sea for future maritime operations.
Beijing has offered naval cooperation to Indian Ocean littoral states by gifting them off-shore patrol vessels like the one presently being offered to Seychelles. Souces are of the view that the Indo-Pacific scenario is warming up with Japan getting ready to meet the Chinese challenge with US support and Australia contesting Beijing in far Pacific. India with its two aircraft carriers will have to do the heavy lifting in the Indian Ocean from Africa’s eastern seaboard to the west coast of Australia.
