With only one aircraft carrier, INS Virat currently operational in the Indian Navy, India is fast looking for a replacement or another addition of an aircraft carrier to increase its naval capabilities. The INS Virat has already crossed its operational life span with 50 years and has been serving the Indian navy since its commissioning in the year 1987.

However, the Indian Navy is now on the fast track to acquire and commission a new aircraft carriers and its eyes are set on a yet to built vessel that is being built by Britain. The unconfirmed deal with the British manufacturers has come in the wake of a prolonged and and deadlocked deal with Russia for Admiral Gorshkov, an aircraft carrier that India is supposed to receive from Russia in the year 2012.

The proposed vessel being built by Britain is one of the two aircraft carriers that are on the drawing board and would cost $3.36 billion a piece and could be sold to India, under the cost cutting initiative undertaken by the U.K Ministry of Defense. According to the British aircraft carrier program, The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is slated to receive the HMS Queen Elizabeth in the year 2016 and HMS Prince of Wales has already witnessed the beginning of the project and is expected to enter service in the year 2018.

The INS Virat was originally commissioned in the Royal Navy in the year 1959 as the HMS Hermes and was later acquired by the Indian Navy in the year 1987. The aircraft carrier, INS Virat completed its 50 glorious years of service with 1,500 crew on board. The completion of the 50 years of service was marked by a massive refit of the vessel at the Cochin Shipyard in India and the overhaul has extended the operational service duration of the vessel till the year 2015.

Via SpaceWar.