Navy chief Karambir Singh: Preparing case to convince govt on 3 aircraft carriers

Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh Tuesday said the Navy was preparing its case to convince the government to have three aircraft carriers so that two carrier battle groups can be deployed in the Indian Ocean Region at any given time even as the share of the Indian Navy has reduced in the defence budget.

There is only one aircraft carrier — INS Vikramaditya that was commissioned in 2013 — at the moment while a second Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-1) is under construction, which, according to Admiral Singh, will be ready by 2022.

“As Naval Chief I am convinced that the country requires three aircraft carriers so that two of them are operational at any given time. We are just preparing our case, we are finalising our requirements to go up to the government for the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN). Once the AoN is given then we will get into the consultancy of the exact contours of the carrier,” he said.