India launches first home-made aircraft carrier
The successful development of INS Vikrant, which was unveiled at the Indian naval shipyard in Cochin, Kerala on Monday, means India has beaten its regional rival China to join the four states able to design and build their own aircraft carriers.
Analysts said the vessel will not only be a symbol of Indian power but also national pride. Its govement is anxious to counter China's growing influence in Asia and the Indian Ocean and believes it now has a maritime advantage.
The launch follows a successful test of a Prithvi II medium range nuclear missile earlier on Monday and a significant step towards the launch of its first indigenous nuclear submarine, INS Arihant, whose reactor went critical on Saturday.
A nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is believed to be in development and a Russian-built carrier is expected to be handed over to the Indian Navy later this year.
INS Vikrant, larger than two football pitches and just under 40,000 tonnes, will continue to undergo tests until it becomes operational in 2018. It will carry MiG29 and home-made Tejas fighter planes.
Mohan Guruswamy of the Centre for Policy Alteatives, said India's focus on asserting its reach and power in the Indian Ocean reflects its need to open a new theatre in its rivalry with China. The two countries share a long disputed border, but China's forces have faster access to it over the Tibetan Plateau than India, whose troops face a steeper climb.
\"The great significance of this is that India is willing to up the ante in the Indian Ocean and to project its power against China. We have to neutralise China's advantage on the [Tibetan] plateau by opening another theatre and that is what this is,\" he said.
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