India’s newest and most powerful ship, the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, was inducted into the Navy last Friday. India is currently building a new generation of warships for its navy, and the Vikrant is the most visible symbol of Indian pride and industry, writes Al Jazeera.

Designed and manufactured locally, the Vikrant not only highlights the skills of the burgeoning military-industrial complex, but is also a stark reminder of a program mired in bureaucratic delays and cost overruns.

The crew of the Indian aircraft carrier consists of 1,600 sailors

Designed to carry a crew of 1,600 and a fleet of 30 aircraft, the 262-metre Vikrant will use the Russian-designed MIG-29K aircraft already flying from another Indian aircraft carrier, the INS Vikramaditya, which India bought from Russia.

American Boeing and French Dassault plan to supply India with more than 20 aircraft for the Vikrant. India is one of the world’s biggest arms importers and has spent 12.4 billion between 2018 and 2021, but the country wants to develop its own production capacity, given that its main supplier, Russia, has invaded Ukraine and is under sanctions.

Its capabilities are already inadequate for what the next generation Indian Navy needs

While watching Pakistan, India is increasingly focusing on China and its dramatic military expansion, with the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA) as the main beneficiary.

Quantitatively, it is now the largest fleet in the world, with all its ships designed and built in Chinese shipyards.

New designs are being developed at a record pace as China’s navy increases its power and range to become a truly global force.

• Read also: VIDEO China launched the third aircraft carrier, which was christened Fujian

Fujian became the third aircraft carrier of the Chinese Navy Photo: Twitter

Fear of conflict with China

India has been making steady efforts to develop its own navy as a counterweight to China’s expansion, while tensions between the two countries have risen, most recently over the Doklam plateau on the India-China-Bhutan border, and now that India has become a member of the four-nation maritime organization. QUAD, which is aimed at countering China’s influence.

Indian strategists are increasingly focusing on what it takes to defeat China in a future maritime conflict.

Aircraft carriers will play a role in this conflict, but their design must be able to cope with the powerful weapons systems that will be adopted. In short, long delays risk obsolescence.

Developed according to Soviet models

The Vikrant, while a major milestone for India’s national military program, is an older project that is almost obsolete.

It is better compared to China’s first aircraft carrier, Shandong, which was built in China in 2019. Both are modified Soviet-era structures.

At about 45,000 tons, the Vikrant is even smaller than the older Shandong, and both carriers use the old technology of a “bed jump” design to give the planes the lift they need.

Both the Vikrant and the Shandong were important ships as they allowed local designers to develop their own ideas and begin to think independently in naval design and production.

However, India has been much slower than China in designing these huge warships, Al Jazeera reported.