3 Mega Defence Projects Worth Rs 1.4 Lakh Crore Set to Transform India’s Defence Sector

India is all set to approve the preliminary approval of three mega-indigenous projects to build another carrier, 97 additional Tejas fighter planes, and 156 light combat helicopters, with an estimated value of around Rs 1.45 lakh crore.

Once the Agreements of Necessity (AoN) have been approved, the tendering process and commercial negotiations will commence before the three Agreements are presented to the Cabinet Committee on Security for final approval.

All of these projects, which are expected to take several years to complete, are essential for improving the country’s operational military readiness in the context of China’s growing multi-domain warfare capability.

The state-of-the-art 180 Tejas aircraft is crucial for the Indian Air Force (IAF) to replenish its fighter fleet, which is now down to 31 aircraft when a minimum of 42 aircraft are needed to combat China and Pakistan.

The first 83 aircraft of the Mark-1A family will be delivered between February 2024 and February 2028.

The second indigenous aircraft carrier, IAC-2, is scheduled to be constructed at Cochin Shipyard at a cost of around Rs 40,00,00 crore as a ‘repeat order’ for the 44,000 tonne INS Vikrant, also known as IAC-1, which is expected to be commissioned in the next 8-10 years.

INS Vikrant was launched in September 2022 after being constructed at a cost of approximately Rs 20,00,000 crore. However, it will not be combat-ready until mid-2024.

The Navy also owns an older Russian-built carrier, the former USS “Admiral Gorshkov” (CVN 74), which was commissioned into the Navy in November 2013. The carrier was purchased from Russia in November 2013 at a cost of USD 2.33 billion.

Currently, the Navy operates only 40 aircraft of the 45 that were inducted from Russia at a cost of $2 billion to the carrier fleet.The fighter, which will be built on a twin-engine deck, is under development by DRDO and is expected to be operational at least 10 years from now. In the meantime, India is in the process of completing the Rs 50,00,000 crore purchase of 26 Rafale fighter jets from France.

The cost of the 156 prachand helicopter, which can operate in high altitudes such as Siachen glacier and eastern ladakh, will be approximately Rs 45,00,00,000.

They will be in addition to the existing 15 such helicopter inductions (10 from the Indian Air Force and 15 from the Army) which were made under the first contract of Rs 3,886 crore signed in March of last year.

The demand for a helicopter that could be used in mountain warfare, such as the Prachand (5.8 tonne), which is equipped with 20mm TBM, 70mm RBM, and ATC missiles, first became apparent in 1999 during the Kargil war.

For its part, the Navy initially preferred an IAC-2 that was nuclear-powered and could carry a payload of 65,000 tons, which is more than the 30 aircraft capacity of the INS Vikrant. However, due to the limited budget, it decided to go with the smaller electric-powered iAC-2.

By the way, China has two aircraft carriers, the Liaoning and the Shandong, as well as two more under construction. China’s third carrier, the supercarrier Fujian, launched in June last year with a payload of more than 80,000 tons. By contrast, the US has 11 carrier-based nuclear-powered carriers with payloads of 80-90 tons each.