Representative image showing an aircraft carrier.
Credit: iStock Photo
New Delhi: Amid growing Chinese muscle flexing in the Indian Ocean region, the Defence Procurement Board has granted an “in-principle” approval to construct a second indigenous aircraft carrier, clearing the decks for a top Defence Ministry panel to decide on the fate of the long awaited project.
The Defence Acquisition Council, headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, on Thursday is scheduled to chair a meeting in which top officials will not only examine the Indian Navy’s second homegrown aircraft carrier project, but will also take a decision in clearing two IAF proposals of buying 97 Tejas LCA Mark-I from HAL and upgrading 84 Su-30MKI.
Defence Ministry sources said the DPB recently accorded an in-principle approval to the second indigenous aircraft carrier, to be known as Indian Aircraft Carrier-II.
This will be similar to INS Vikrant (earlier known as IAC-II), which was commissioned in September by the Prime Minister.
The Navy has been making a strong push for having the IAC-II with a displacement of 45,000 tonnes. The indigenous aircraft carrier, likely to be made by the Cochin Shipyard Ltd, is estimated to cost close to Rs 40,000 crore with the envisaged specifications.
The DAC is also likely to consider the Indian Air Force's proposal for procurement of an additional batch of 97 Tejas Mark-1A aircraft at a cost of Rs 1.15 lakh crore.
A proposal to upgrade 84 Su-30 Mk-1 – the Russian origin combat aircraft that currently constitutes nearly 50 per cent of India’s fighter fleet – will also be on the table.