India to speed up acquisition of further aircraft carrier
India’s first domestically built aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, seen under way in the Arabian Sea. (Photo: Indian MoD)
India’s first domestically built aircraft carrier was massively late by six years, but the country thinks it can do better with the next ship.
India’s MoD is fast-tracking the Indian Navy’s (IN) proposal to indigenously build a follow-on 43,000t aircraft carrier, similar to INS Vikrant that was commissioned late last year.
At its 22 September meeting, the MoD’s Defence Procurement Board (DPB) discussed various aspects of constructing Indigenous Aircraft Carrier-2 (IAC-2) at Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL), which also built Vikrant, for an estimated INR400 billion ($4.81 billion).
IN sources said the DPB was expected to imminently forward the proposal for IAC-2, featuring ‘extensive modifications and upgrades’ over Vikrant, for approval to the Defence Acquisition Council before work on the project formally
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