Wonderful news. India is making a bad mistake. The Indian Defense Minister said earlier in the week "work" has started on the third carrier.
Not exactly clear what work is. The cost of an aircraft carrier along with planes will be astronomical for India.
India could not possibly afford the third carrier unless their defense planners assumed the economy was set to grow dramatically. The two richest men in India have over the last several weeks competed with each other to see which one has the more outlandish prediction of Indian GDP at midcentury.
I predict the Indian economy will not even reach $10 trillion by 2040. Nominal GDP in China increased by 134% from $6.08 trillion to $14.28 trillion from 2010-19, while nominal GDP during the same period in India grew 72% from $1.67 trillion to $2.87 trillion in 2019. There is no way India will grow to $30 or $40 trillion unless the dollar collapses in value by midcentury.
I hope the Indian Defense Minister is not exaggerating. As in the project hasn't really gotten off the ground and could get shelved later on. A few months ago, I suggested PLAN should send an aircraft carrier to Pakistan as a show of force in the Indian Ocean to galvanize India to build a third aircraft carrier. It would cripple the Indian defense capital expenditure budget for years to come.
Indian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.