Why India is focusing more on aircraft carriers but China is not?
By Satyam Pathak
Geographical features of both the countries are quite different. Military needs and aspirantions of both the countries vary too. India is one of the biggest victims of external threats and on the other hand China is featured for its dominance and expansionist sentiments. Different geopolitical scenarios make it important for both the countries to vision and make strategic policies accordingly. Hence armed forces of China and India are pursuing different paths for its military preparedness and modernization.
China is more interested in strengthening a dominating force. Its rival countries United States, Japan are already well equipped with developed and effective surface fleet and hence it has chosen to focus on precautionary measure by investing in submarines of different capabilities. As a result of its extensive research and development in this field, the Chinese submarines have been proven to be one of the best in the world.
Further, China has already an aircraft carrier Liaoning which is well known for its capabilities but it is not being used upto its full potential. Instead of using it as a full time floating naval airfield, it has been limited to the role of an institution for learning naval aviation and also for acclimatization of troops. Moreover, China is constructing aircraft carriers visioning the need of it in future time as a result of growing occupation in South China Sea and other regions.
On the other hand India has realized on time the importance of its serious occupation in Indian Ocean. To curb China's dominance it also want to make it easier to project its growing presence in some main areas of China's growing interest like Strait of Malacca, South China Sea and Pacific region. In order to do this India need to have additional aircraft carriers as it doesn't prefer to move its earlier carriers out of the Indian Ocean territory. It has realized that presence in any location can't be established with having a visible force there. Hence, it is not much concerned about submarines than aircraft carriers. It has already acquired INS Vikramaditya recently and is looking forward to have more carriers in future. India is building its own Aircraft Carriers also and one of them is almost complete. For India, aircraft carrier could be a better option if it want to tackle Pakistan from the western front as it will provide an additional strength to India's growing naval fleet. Further, Indian Navy is also keen towards submarines but the rate of deployment of it is quite slow.
India has learnt a lot from its past experience with colonization. British taught it an important lesson - no matter how much strong and modern your army is you are going to lose without having a modern world class Navy. After Independence, India had bought its first aircraft carrier from Britain in 1957 which eventually turned out to be key role player in winning the 1971 war against Pakistan in which Bangladesh was liberated. This itself explains the importance of aircraft carriers for India.
If you need to add any point kindly feel free to put in the comments section.
Geographical features of both the countries are quite different. Military needs and aspirantions of both the countries vary too. India is one of the biggest victims of external threats and on the other hand China is featured for its dominance and expansionist sentiments. Different geopolitical scenarios make it important for both the countries to vision and make strategic policies accordingly. Hence armed forces of China and India are pursuing different paths for its military preparedness and modernization.
China is more interested in strengthening a dominating force. Its rival countries United States, Japan are already well equipped with developed and effective surface fleet and hence it has chosen to focus on precautionary measure by investing in submarines of different capabilities. As a result of its extensive research and development in this field, the Chinese submarines have been proven to be one of the best in the world.
Further, China has already an aircraft carrier Liaoning which is well known for its capabilities but it is not being used upto its full potential. Instead of using it as a full time floating naval airfield, it has been limited to the role of an institution for learning naval aviation and also for acclimatization of troops. Moreover, China is constructing aircraft carriers visioning the need of it in future time as a result of growing occupation in South China Sea and other regions.
On the other hand India has realized on time the importance of its serious occupation in Indian Ocean. To curb China's dominance it also want to make it easier to project its growing presence in some main areas of China's growing interest like Strait of Malacca, South China Sea and Pacific region. In order to do this India need to have additional aircraft carriers as it doesn't prefer to move its earlier carriers out of the Indian Ocean territory. It has realized that presence in any location can't be established with having a visible force there. Hence, it is not much concerned about submarines than aircraft carriers. It has already acquired INS Vikramaditya recently and is looking forward to have more carriers in future. India is building its own Aircraft Carriers also and one of them is almost complete. For India, aircraft carrier could be a better option if it want to tackle Pakistan from the western front as it will provide an additional strength to India's growing naval fleet. Further, Indian Navy is also keen towards submarines but the rate of deployment of it is quite slow.
India has learnt a lot from its past experience with colonization. British taught it an important lesson - no matter how much strong and modern your army is you are going to lose without having a modern world class Navy. After Independence, India had bought its first aircraft carrier from Britain in 1957 which eventually turned out to be key role player in winning the 1971 war against Pakistan in which Bangladesh was liberated. This itself explains the importance of aircraft carriers for India.
If you need to add any point kindly feel free to put in the comments section.
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