India defence upgrades: India is looking to build its third aircraft carrier and this one may run on nuclear power. The new carrier will be a big part of a 15-year defence modernisation plan that the government announced on Friday. Along with this, the navy will also start using fighter jets made in India for the very first time.
India sits next to two big rivals, China and Pakistan, and has fought with both in the past few years. Because of this, New Delhi is trying to depend less on foreign countries like Russia, France, and the United States for weapons. Instead, the government wants Indian defence companies to make more and help build strong equipment at home.
Indian Navy’s INS Sindhuvijay Heads to Visakhapatnam for Mid-Life Upgrade
The new roadmap from the defence ministry said, “As the nation stands on the threshold of embracing greater challenges and responsibilities in the forthcoming decades, it is but imperative that the Services be equipped accordingly.” It also added that the future should see “greater private-public sector partnership.”
India defence upgrades: A nuclear-powered ship
India runs currenty two aircraft carriers, one bought from Russia and one built in India. The new carrier will be nuclear-powered, which would be the first time for India. A nuclear ship can travel longer, stay at sea for more time, and move more quietly compared to normal ships. The plan also says India will need at least ten nuclear propulsion systems. These will not only be for the new carrier but also for other warships that the navy plans to build in the coming years.
At the same time, the navy will bring in new twin-engine deck fighter jets and light combat aircraft that Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, a state-run company, is making. This will give India its first fully home-built fighters for carriers.
Dassault to increase stake in business jet making JV with RInfra
Back in April, India signed a big deal with France worth about 630 billion rupees, close to 8 billion dollars. France’s Dassault Aviation will give India 26 Rafale-Marine jets, both twin and single-seat, to be used on INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya. By 2030, India wants to have 62 Rafale planes in its forces. Out of this number, 36 are already coming for the air force, which began getting them in 2020 reported Telegraph India. The carriers right now use old Soviet MiG-29K fighters, which will slowly be replaced.
New aircraft launch systems
India is also planning to get two new electromagnetic aircraft launch systems. These were first made for the U.S. Navy and they use electric power to launch planes instead of steam catapults, making launches faster and smoother. Drones will also play a much bigger role in future plans. India saw how important drones were when it used them in a short fight with Pakistan in May. Because of this, the roadmap talks a lot about growing the drone fleet and using them for many tasks at sea.
India has set aside about 6.81 trillion rupees, which is about 77 billion dollars, for defence spending this year. The World Bank says India is now the fourth biggest defence spender in the world, after the United States, China and Russia.
