Abishek R.L Writes:-China’s expanding naval footprint in Indian Ocean is a big concern.China on Wednesday, April 26, 2017, launched its first domestically-built aircraft carrier from the Dalian shipyard in the the country’s north-east.The launch came three days after the 68th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army Navy on Sunday, and against the backdrop of a rising China’s efforts to beef up its navy to project the world’s second largest economy’s growing clout overseas.
China is pursuing a long-term strategy of integrating these “floating sovereign airfields” into military operations, Cronin said.The vessel will become the second carrier in the country’s expanding naval fleet.
Internal documents of the People’s Liberation Army Navy show that Beijing plans to develop a nuclear-powered propulsion system for aircraft carriers, an electromagnetic aircraft launch system and carrier-borne unmanned aircraft. Senior ranks of the PLA Navy call for expanding China’s naval sphere of influence in the Pacific and Indian oceans by reinforcing its submarine- launched ballistic missiles and amphibious assault ships as strategic equipment. There is also a report that it is building a catapult-equipped aircraft carrier in Shanghai.
Chinese military officials state that the new carrier has significant improvements that will raise its fighting and training capabilities.Military experts have suggested the carrier would be fully operational by 2020.
But what continues to send alarm bells clanging in India is the rapid expansion in long-range naval deployments by the People’s Liberation Army- Navy (PLAN), which ominously include regular forays by its nuclear and conventional submarines in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) on the pretext of anti-piracy patrols since December 2013.
“The launch of the half-finished carrier does not amount to much in real terms. But India can ill-afford to ignore China’s continuing quest to go global in the maritime domain, which has been its major focus area since 2009.Moreover, China’s continues to “strategically encircle” India by further deepening its maritime links with eastern Africa, Seychelles, Mauritius, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Cambodia, among others, even though its primary aim is to secure its trade and energy sea routes.
China eventually wants to have six aircraft carriers, with at least two of them being nuclear-powered for longer operational endurance. With the aim to deploy two carriers each in the Pacific and IOR, China fast-tracked its already extensive warship construction plans after inducting its first carrier, the 65,000-tonne Liaoning, in September 2012[i].The assessment, however, is that China will take some years to attain requisite expertise in the highly-complex art of operating fighters from carriers. India, on the other hand, has operated “flattops” since it inducted its first carrier in 1961.
But India is slowly squandering its edge in this arena, having failed in executing its long-standing plan to have three aircraft carriers, with one each for the western and eastern seaboards and the third in reserve for maintenance refits.India will have to soldier on with just the 44,570-tonne INS Vikramaditya for the next three to four years. The commissioning of first indigenous aircraft carrier, the 40,000-tonne INS Vikrant, which was “launched” at the Cochin Shipyard in 2013 after being approved way back in 2003, has now been further delayed to 2020.The second indigenous carrier, the 65,000-tonne INS Vishal, in turn, is just at the conceptual stage as of now. The defence ministry in May 2015 had sanctioned an initial Rs 30 crore as seed money for this project, but neither was the entire amount allocated, nor has the detailed project report been approved till now. It will take well over 10 years for the carrier to be ready once the construction actually kicks off.The Navy, on its part, wants INS Vishal to have nuclear propulsion as well as CATOBAR (catapult assisted take-off but arrested recovery) configuration for launching fighters as well as heavier aircraft from its deck.
In the past few decades, India and China have taken different paths in terms of aircraft carriers, but the different results achieved by the two countries point to the underlying importance of economic development.
“The huge project of building an aircraft carrier provides a valuable opportunity to many Chinese companies, and industries will be able to push industrial advances,” Song Zhongping, a military expert, said. The Type 001A is a typical civil-military integration initiative that President Xi Jinping has promoted, and its technologies can be transferred to civilian use, the Global Times reported citing Song[ii].India must catch up on domestic production and further strengthen its economy to counter the Chinese threat and maintain it’s hold in the Indian ocean region.
ENDNOTES
[i] Pandit, R. (2017). Aircraft carrier not threat, but China’s expanding naval footprint in Indian Ocean a big concern – Times of India. The Times of India. Retrieved 5 May 2017, from http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/chinas-expanding-naval-footprint-in-indian-ocean-a-big-concern/articleshow/58386277.cms?
[ii] China’s new Aircraft Carrier Boasts of 8,000 Technological Advances. (2017). Telegiz: The Latest Technology News and Cool Stuff. Retrieved 5 May 2017, from http://www.telegiz.com/articles/22287/20170430/aircraft-carrier-chinese-aircraft-carrier-liaoning- type-001a-carrier-shandong-carrier.htm#ixzz4fosGNKdI