India’s Defense Acquisition Council (DAC) has just approved an initial budget of 300 million Rupees (more than 4.7 million USD) for the country’s largest warship building project, the aircraft carrier INS Vishal, with displacement of 65,000 tons.

India approves largest warship building project
Next year, the Indian aircraft carrier INS Viraat will “retire” after 56 years of operation – Photo: AFP

The Times of India newspaper today, May 15, quoted Indian officials as saying there were three reasons for the DAC to make the above move.
The first reason is that the Chinese navy is increasingly increasing its presence in the Indian Ocean and making efforts to establish logistics bases in the region.

May be an image of submarine
The INS Vishal shipbuilding project, which had been delayed for a long time, had its budget approved by the DAC on the night of May 13, right before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his 3-day visit to China.

Viraat+1

The second reason is that next year India will retire the aircraft carrier INS Viraat (28,000 tons), so the country only has one aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (displacement 44,400 tons) in operational status. .
File:USMC Harriers line the deck of HMS Illustrious MOD 45147594.jpg
India is building its own aircraft carrier INS Vikrant (40,000 tons) and is expected to launch it on May 28 before putting it into operation in 2018 or 2019.
An Indian official said that the construction of INS Vishal will take more than a year. decade.

Viraat

The final reason is that India and the US are planning to cooperate on aircraft carrier technology.
New Delhi has just asked Washington to share new technology EMALS (electromagnetic aircraft launching system) applied on aircraft carriers.