India Starts Working On Second Indigenous Aircraft Carrier: Rajnath Singh

Following the launch of the indigenously built INS Vikrant, India has begun work on its second aircraft carrier, according to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday.

Addressing the “Agenda Aaj Tak” programme, Singh said that India recently became the seventh country in the world to launch an aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant.

When India gained independence, not a single needle was produced in the country. We are building a massive aircraft carrier like the INS Vikrant in 2022; a few years ago, no one would have believed that India was capable of such a feat, Singh said.

According to him, India is the only seventh country that can build an aircraft carrier after the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China and Japan.

He emphasised that the INS Vikrant aircraft carrier is 73-74 per cent indigenous.

India currently operates two aircraft carriers, the Russian-built INS Vikramaditya and the indigenously built INS Vikrant, both of which are 40,000 tonnes.

Last week, Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar said that the Navy was considering a repeat order for INS Vikrant in order to capitalise on domestic expertise.

Kumar said that the Navy had yet to make a decision on building the indigenous aircraft carrier-2, a larger vessel with a displacement of 65,000 tonnes.

Singh stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appealed to businesses to 'Make in India' and 'Make for the World' through the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative.

He stated that Tata-Airbus has laid the groundwork in India for the production of the C-295 transport plane, which will also be exported to other countries.

Singh also said that India’s defence exports have already surpassed Rs 14,000 crore this year and are on track to exceed Rs 19,000 crore by the end of 2023.

According to the defence minister, India has set a target of Rs 25,000 in defence exports by 2024-25.