The Indian Navy is proud of her sole aircraft carrier, INS Viraat. Rightly so. The first aircraft carrier, Vikrant is now a museum of sorts to enlighten citizens on the history of the Indian Navy. Thank God, she did not become a floating hotel as one entrepreneur had proposed. Remember the 1971 war India fought against Pakistan? It was in that war that INS Vikrant had actively participated and pounded military targets in the then East Pakistan with success. Well, it is history now.
INS Viraat filled the vacuum created by the departure of Vikrant to a great extent. Sea Harrier jump jets take off from her flight deck and also land vertically while the carrier is on the move full steam ahead. Quite a feat indeed to take off and land on an airfield that is afloat and on the move. Pilots of the Sea Harrier have to be really good at map reading on sea too. Initially the carrier had a complement of 30 jet fighters on board. Over a period of time the number has considerably reduced. Some crashed and some were worn out and some became unserviceable for technical reasons. I am sad to say that a naval fighter pilot Lieutenant Commander Saurav Saxena was killed when his Sea Harrier crashed on a training flight from the base in Goa this week. The number of fighter jets has reduced further and the tally today is just eight single seater fighter jets and three twin-seater trainers. Of the initial tally of thirty, half of the fighter jets were lost in accidents and were never replaced for one reason or the other. A sorry state of affairs indeed.
INS Viraat was in the dry dock for an extensive repair and a major refit. The aim of the exercise was to enable the 50-year-old aircraft carrier to slog on for an additional period of five years. The plan was fine but had a major snag. Did anyone think of procuring fighter jets to complete a strike force of thirty machines? The forward planners are not to blame because as per the original plan both INS Viraat and the Sea Harriers on board were to be decommissioned by 2009. However, that was not to be because successive governments were indecisive on new procurements. Imagine an aircraft carrier without its attack elements- the fighter jets. It is like fielding a tiger in battle without its teeth. Sad scenario.
A carrier battle group of two aircraft carriers is the immediate requirement of the Indian Navy; this would be necessary to make her presence felt in the Indian Ocean and surrounding waters. With China making aggressive moves in the Indian Ocean, it is high time our planners and decision makers woke up and took decisions that will make India militarily strong.
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