The development plans for the Indian naval forces provide for the commissioning of a third aircraft carrier, which is to receive a nuclear power plant as well as electromagnetic catapults. This item is included in the Technology Perspective Capability Roadmap 2025, that was updated for the first time since 2018.
Even the USSR could not create a nuclear aircraft carrier. The first Soviet nuclear aircraft carrier of the project 1143.7 "Ulyanovsk" was laid down in Nikolaev on the penultimate day of 1987, but they did not have time to finish it before the collapse of the USSR. The only country besides the USA that created a nuclear aircraft carrier is France.
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The second most difficult task is Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS). This type of aircraft launching system has a number of advantages over traditional steam catapults. EMALS accelerate the aircraft more smoothly and in a more controlled way. They have more power, which means the possibility of launching heavier aircraft, and if necessary, the catapult power can be reduced to launch lighter aircraft. Also, the electromagnetic catapult does not have a number of disadvantages of a steam catapult: a long "recharge" as well as a need for fresh water.
The only aircraft carrier in the world with EMALS in service with the Navy is the American new-generation Gerald R. Ford. aircraft carrier However, the Chinese Fujian Type 003 aircraft carrier, which is currently undergoing testing and is to become the third aircraft carrier in the Chinese Navy, is due to enter service relatively soon. However, this Chinese aircraft carrier has a conventional, not a nuclear, power plant.
Therefore, India's intention to immediately build a nuclear aircraft carrier with EMALS means that country's intention to overtake China in the production of an aircraft carrier with a nuclear power plant. It also seems that India is trying to keep up with China in the number of ships of this class. Currently, the Indian Navy has two aircraft carriers on its balance sheet: INS Vikramaditya (a modified Kiev-class aircraft carrier purchased from russia and the flagship of the Indian Navy) and INS Vikrant (the result of joint design with the russian federation). These Indian aircraft carriers are opposed by the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning (Originally laid down in 1985 for the Soviet Navy as the Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier Riga, she was launched on 4 December 1988 and renamed Varyag in 1990) and Shandong - the country's first domestically built aircraft carrier.
India also planned to create its own twin-engine carrier aircraft. Surprisingly, its development may turn out to be more complicated than a nuclear aircraft carrier. After all, the Indian Navy has had its own Arihant-class nuclear submarines in service since 2016 (two in service, the third on tests). Therefore, India has experience in creating nuclear power plants for ships.
But with fighters, not everything is so perfect. In particular, the single-engine Tejas fighter not only does not meet the requirements for a carrier-based aircraft – only 38 of them have been built since 2001, when the first flight took place. Despite large-scale orders, its production is hampered by the slow pace of deliveries of American F404 engines by General Electric. At the same time, 40 years of development of its own engine have not yet yielded results.
Although India, of course, has a backup option – the French Rafale-M. However, the price of these aircraft is very high, because Delhi pays $6.6 billion for 26 carrier-based Rafale jets.
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