RM To Review Progress Of Futuristic Naval Base And Indigenous Aircraft Carrier

24 June 2021

Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday will review the progress of the strategic Karwar naval base in coastal Karnataka, which is being expanded to house more warships and submarines and will also serve as the headquarters of the proposed Maritime Theatre Command (MTC).

Accompanied by Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh, the minister on Friday will then travel to the Cochin Shipyard to take stock of the country’s first indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC-1), which will be christened INS Vikrant once it’s hopefully commissioned by this year-end after a long delay in its construction, said sources.

The futuristic Karwar naval base and IAC-1 are both crucial for India’s military maritime capabilities in the years ahead, especially in the backdrop of the ever-expanding Chinese naval footprint in the Indian Ocean Region.

China, with the world’s largest Navy with 350 warships, including two aircraft carriers, 50 conventional and 10 nuclear submarines, is also helping Pakistan build its maritime capabilities, in a clear indicator of the collusive threat on the high seas.

The 140-warship Indian Navy has only one aircraft carrier, 10 destroyers, 14 frigates, 11 corvettes, 15 diesel-electric submarines and one nuclear-powered submarine, in terms of major combatants at present.

Sources said Rajnath Singh will review the status of the ongoing Phase-IIA of “Project Seabird” at Karwar, which is designed to give India both strategic depth and operational flexibility on the western seaboard as well as decongest Mumbai.

The Phase-IIA, approved at a cost of around Rs 20,000 crore several years ago, includes construction of eight operational and two refit piers, a full-fledged naval dockyard and construction of a naval air station, among other infrastructure.

Already the home base for several frontline warships, including the 44,570-tonne aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, Karwar will be able to berth 32 major warships and submarines once Phase-IIA is completed.

The 40,000-tonne IAC-1, which was first sanctioned by the government way back in January 2003 and has been constructed at a cost of around Rs 23,000 crore, in turn, will be fully operational only by 2022-2023. “Sea trials of IAC-1 should begin in July. After commissioning, it will take another year for the flight trials from its deck to be completed,” said a source.

But the Navy’s case for a third 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier, which has been pending since May 2015, is yet to get even the initial “acceptance of necessity” by the government. This is when China is building two more aircraft carriers, with the eventual aim of having 10, as was reported by TOI earlier.

Courtesy: The Times of India