Why can't India build an aircraft carrier? Indian media's absurd logic: Fooled by China
The way Indian media is blaming China truly takes the cake.
On the 26th, Indian media outlet "RNA Media" published a bizarre article claiming that China launched an "information war," misleading India into believing that building aircraft carriers is useless—while secretly constructing them on a massive scale.
The article asserts that because India has blocked China’s path to regional dominance, Chinese media and defense analysts frequently “convey” to India the idea that aircraft carriers are obsolete and highly vulnerable to anti-ship ballistic missiles. It also points out that India’s shipbuilding industry is weak, suggesting it would be wiser for India to focus on economic development rather than rush into building aircraft carriers.
Yet this same Indian media outlet insists all of this is part of China’s “information warfare.” While allegedly deceiving India into not building carriers, China has already launched three aircraft carriers.
To be honest, this logic from Indian media is utterly ridiculous—and refreshingly imaginative.
When addressing the question of why India cannot build aircraft carriers on the same scale as China, this media outlet only gets one thing right: India’s shipbuilding industrial base is indeed weak. Currently, both of India’s aircraft carriers were constructed with assistance from Russia (though India refuses to acknowledge this, insisting that Russia provided only “limited external technical support” for the INS Vikrant).
The other factor lies in the ongoing rivalry within the Indian Navy between the aircraft carrier faction and the submarine faction. In short, the Indian Navy’s annual defense budget is limited, so debates frequently erupt over whether to prioritize building aircraft carriers or submarines.
Currently, the submarine faction holds a slight advantage. In recent years, India has slowed down construction of its third aircraft carrier and shifted focus toward submarine and nuclear submarine projects (India currently operates three Arihant-class nuclear-powered submarines; the fourth, INS Arishtan, was launched in 2024 and is expected to enter service by 2027).
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1866428034846852/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.