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India's aircraft carrier will have 50 pc foreign input

Josy Joseph in New Delhi

India's first indigenous aircraft carrier (aka an air defence ship), to be constructed at the Cochin Shipyard, will have almost 50 per cent foreign participation in the form of consultancy and equipment, including Russian-made fighters and airborne early warning helicopters, say naval sources.

The construction of the Air Defence Ship, a 32,000 tonne aircraft carrier, will begin in the next year-and-a-half. The upgradation of the Cochin Shipyard for the mammoth project has already begun, and this project is estimated to cost about Rs 1.5 billion.

The ADS will have Airborne Early Warning helicopters, besides fixed wing aircraft, both of which are to be bought from Russia. The foreign contract to be given out for the ADS project will be one of the biggest in recent times, the sources said. These would include consultancy, supply of electronic equipment and weaponry.

Those in the know say France has shown a keen interest in participating in the ADS construction, while Russia, India's traditional defence partner, "is not very active this time". Strategic relations between India and France have brightened in wake of Pokhran II; the European nation has an active aircraft carrier industry. The French navy commissioned the Charles de Gaulle, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, in its fleet recently.

According to sources, the Navy is thinking of placing the naval version of MiG-29K fighter jets on the proposed aircraft carrier, as the indigenous development of a naval version of the Light Combat Aircraft is nowhere near completion. Sources said a major part of the investment will be on the purchase of about 25 fighters from Russia.

The MiG-29K is being preferred basically to assure compatibility with the Admiral Gorshkov, the Russian aircraft carrier that India is negotiating to buy, which has the same aircraft on board. Negotiations for the Gorshkov, being offered to India for its cost of refit, is yet to be finalised. The cost of the refit is believed to be about $ 700 million.

Sources say Naval HQ is also negotiating the purchase of the Kamov-31, advanced airborne early warning helicopters, from Russia. The Navy proposes to buy three Ka-31s, one of which will be placed on the ADS while another will be on board the INS Viraat. An AEW helicopter will work as a force multiplier, and would drastically cut down the deployment of fighters for surveillance.

The ADS project is estimated to cost between Rs 18 billion and Rs 20 billion. The cost is expected to ultimately end somewhere in the vicinity of Rs 30 billion. It will be completed only by about 2010. ''The total cost is expected to double," admitted a senior navy official.

The ship is being built based on a design developed by the Direction des Constructions Naval, a French firm. The design has been improved upon by the Naval Design Organisation.

The navy may have to go without an aircraft carrier for a couple of years, the sources admitted. Unless the Admiral Gorshkov deal is expedited, the navy could be without a carrier for a much longer period.

The Viraat, after its refit which is underway at Cochin, will join the navy about two years from now. Even after the refit, the Viraat will serve the navy only till 2006.

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