The latest proposal for the third carrier. Including aircraft, it would be around $25B USD. Not a new story, it is just the latest in the IN’s regular schedule of intermittent trial balloons at MoD.
The numbers are tough at this point but the lead time needed for a carrier means they have to at least propose it now. The numbers will look better in the future as our economy grows. If we do not decide soon, it would mean a third carrier would not be a reality until way after 2030.
Our experience with the Vikrant began with MoD approval in 2003, keel laid in 2009, launch in 2013 (first of two) and fitting out to this day. So 15 years and counting.
The Vishal as a CATOBAR, regardless of EMALS or not, will be far larger and complicated so it can be expected to take at least as long. So a decision is needed soon or IACII will come very late. The PRC has clear plan and will conceivably have the Type 002 (already building in Shanghai as we speak) and the Type 003 by 2030. There are intelligence that they will build concurrently in mutiples for those CATOBAR classes. So possibly six carriers to our two unless we decide soon.
https://www.indiatoday.in/mail-today/st ... 2018-01-15
Indian Navy plans to acquire its third aircraft carrier for a whopping Rs 1.6 lakh crore
Ajit Kumar Dubey
* New Delhi
* January 15, 2018
* UPDATED 15:05 IST
The Indian Navy is moving ahead with a big-ticket proposal for acquiring its third aircraft carrier which is expected to cost around Rs 1.6 lakh crore along with the additional component of 57 fighter aircraft.
The Navy has one operational aircraft carrier in the INS Vikramaditya while another one, INS Vikrant, is under construction at the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) and is expected to join service in the next few years.
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“If one goes by the cost of the 36 Rafales acquired for the Air Force, the 57 planes are not going to cost us less than Rs 90,000-95,000 crore,” the sources said.
Citing the Chinese threat, the Navy had been asking for construction of the third nuclearpowered aircraft carrier using American technology and systems which is going to be far more expensive in comparison with the existing systems.
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However, the defence ministry is not very keen on the project due to the high costs involved in it and it would force the government to change its acquisition plans for the coming years compelling it to wait list a number of other urgently required weapon systems of the Army and the Air Force, sources said.
The cost of equipment for the aircraft carrier take-off patented by an American private sector firm will also be a major factor in determining the final cost of the carrier for India, the sources said.
For buying the aircraft for the aircraft carrier, the Navy had floated a request for information (RFI) but it has not got any clearance from the defence ministry for issuing the tender for the project.
However, the Navy has already allowed the vendors to give it a presentation on whether their planes would be able to take off from the Russian-origin INS Vikramaditya or not. Defence ministry sources also said the need for further expanding the aircraft carrier fleet needs to be thought over again as all targets and routes in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) can be looked after well by the existing assets and bases in the area.
Due to this reason, the defence ministry had refused to clear the five-year programme of the Navy as agreeing to it would required at least doubling the current acquisition budget of the ministry.