India plans to construct a new conventional-powered aircraft carrier called the INS Vishal with assistance from the United States, according to Manorama Online, a news website based in New Delhi in a Feb. 4 report.
The news site said that the aircraft carrier will be superior to China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, bought from Ukraine and refitted for purpose.
Unlike the Indian Navy’s current aircraft carrier, the INS Vishal will not be built with the Russian-style ski-jump flight deck. Instead, it will use the angled flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers of the United States Navy. The new Indian carrier will also be equipped with an electromagnetic system for launching aircraft. With this new equipment, the Indian Navy will be capable of speeding up the time it takes to launch carrier-based fighters from deck .
As the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System is fitted aboard the latest Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier, the article said that INS Vishal will have the most advanced launching system in the world. China is also working to develop an Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System for its planned domestically-developed carrier but has, as yet, been unsuccessful.
China’s ambitions in the Indian Ocean have become a major concern for India’s national security. To confront China’s ambition of building a blue water navy and the possibility that they will establish a naval base of the People’s Liberation Army Navy in Sri Lanka, the article said that more cooperation between India and the United States is necessary. Sources from the Indian government said that New Delhi will purchase carrier-based fighters from Washington as well.
