THE NAVY RUNS INTO A BUDGET BOULDER

The Indian Navy’s planned acquisition of a third Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-2) is at risk of running aground.

- Sandeep Unnithan

On December 3, during the annual navy press conference held in New Delhi, Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Karambir Singh, iterated the Navy’s determination to acquire IAC-2. But the first Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Bipin Rawat, one of whose primary tasks is to prioritise acquisitions in the three armed forces, has cited budget constraints.

At his first media interaction in February, after taking over as CDS in December 2019, Gen. Rawat had asked the navy to re-evaluate priorities and hinted that if they pushed for the IAC-2, they would have to forgo the nuclear powered attack submarines (SSNs), another service priority. “[IAC-2] is a major investment. What is it that the navy [itself] will not be able to get (if it pushes for IAC-2) and what will the effect be on the army? You cannot just have one service moving ahead,” he had said. A third carrier, Rawat explained, had hidden costs—it would mean sanctions for 2,500 more crew members and their salaries, buying fighter jets (each at a cost of over Rs 1,000 crore) and buying destroyer escorts for the carrier.

The navy rejects the binary argument and maintains that it needs both carriers and nuclear submarines. SSNs, in fact, operate as the underwater strike element of a carrier battlegroup, around which the navy’s strategy is currently centred. The service is preparing its pitch to obtain an Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) from the government for the IAC-2 in 2021. This will be difficult if the CDS continues to oppose it and since there is no evidence of him having changed his mind, the standoff continues.