BEIJING: The launch of INS Vikrant has raised hackles in China, with Chinese defence experts saying the aircraft carrier would have great significance for India as it would allow the Indian Navy to wade into the Pacific Ocean - which Beijing considers as its backyard.
Pacific?
These guys are seriously drunk on Ang-jiu.
Vikrant II is not a nuclear powered carrier unless they're assuming that we will have every country helping us fuel our carrier all the way to East Sea for a fight that we're not interested.
"This bears great significance to Indian Navy. It makes India only the fifth country after the US, Russia, Britain and France to have such capabilities," senior captain Zhang Junshe, vice-president of China's Naval Research Institute, told the state-run CCTV on Monday.
Probably the most mature and professional comment ever made by a Chinese person of authoritative position.
Shows his good professionalism in talking.
The Indian Navy will have lead over China as it will have two aircraft carriers by the end of this year with INS Vikramaditya, the refitted carrier from Russia joining INS Viraat, which is already in service even though Vikrant was expected to be operational by 2018, he said.
"Which means by the end of this year India will become the only country in Asia to have two aircraft carriers. This will enhance the overall capabilities especially the power projection capabilities of the Indian Navy," Zhang said.
I don't think Viraat has much of a fight left in it.
The warhorse has gone old and served the country well.
Besides, it doesn't make much sense for Viraat to engage in full-blown combat with only 8 Harriers operational.
The MiG-29Ks have a range issue when launched from the carrier base in Goa.
They cannot engage in deep-sea aerial combat until the current Vikrant and Vikramaditya both come.
This is just to 'hold on' till the new ships come in.
Ruling out any race for more carriers in the region, Zhang defended India and China having more carriers since they have vast coasts and huge populations and the importance of defending the sea lanes far from home due to dependence on external trade.
China is reportedly building two more aircraft carriers but their schedules are not known yet.
Zhang earlier told the state-run China Daily that with Vikrant, the Indian Navy will be more capable of patrolling distant oceans.
"India's first self-made carrier, along with reinforced naval strength, will further disrupt the military balance in South Asia," he said.India is very likely to quicken its pace to steer eastward to the Pacific, where the US and China are competing to dominate.The launch of the Vikrant as well as the first nuclear submarine Arihant also aroused the curiosity and concerns among analysts from different state-run thinktanks in China.
He must be joking.. IN's top priority is to ensure that Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and IOR (northern half, excluding the international waters), remain in our control.
We have no interest in Pacific Ocean. Probably OVL-Gazprom JVs might have interest in drilling for oil in the Gulf of Tonkin or something, but that is only with Vietnam government's permission.
Even INS Arihant will be patrolling in our region itself.
First he says we have a massive coastline and it is justified, then he says that there can be problems because of this development.
Oh and BTW, US Navy still dominates the Pacific Ocean and there is nobody not even close, to challenging their naval power.
Their armada of CBGs combined are bigger than many air forces put together.
PLAN needs to understand this.
"The new indigenous carrier will further strengthen India's naval power and also add some bargaining chips with the world's major military vendors such as Russia," Wang Daguang, a researcher of military equipment based in Beijing said.
Even though there was a lot of delay and haggling over price, Gorshkov is seemingly the last carrier to be imported. CSL has proven its mettle and in the future we can build our own and probably even export conventional carriers to friendly countries.
But much is left to be done.
And we have no time to be complacent.
Song Xiaojun, a military commentator in Beijing, said the Vikrant uses technology from the 1980s and thus serves as an experiment for the Indian Navy to set technical standards for future vessels.
How does he know?
???
then why bother having an airforce too?? Just procure $hit load of AA weapons 
