Most indians are very optimistic about their carrier program, but ground reality is very different. It takes India
12 years to complete a medium sized warship, go figure how long it would really take for India to build a carrier which is about 1 magnitude more complex than a destroyer or a frigate. Understood that someone just announced that if ALL(a huge if) goes well the INS Vikrant would be launched by years end, but how many similar promises went uncashed in the past? When in 2001 after years of delay India finally launched the first GSLV, the talk was that India was expected to a launch version with indigenous upper-stage the next year. Now a decade on, India still has not managed to accomplish this.
Some dates for you to digest:
INS Dehli, laid down 14 November 1987, launched 01 February 1991, commissioned 15 November 1997
INS Shivalik, laid down 11 July 2001, launched 18 April 2003, commissioned 29 April 2010
INS Kolkata, laid down 27 September 2003, launched 30 March 2006, commissioned was May 2012 now 2015
now the first indigenous carrier
INS Vikrant, laid down 28 Feb 2009, launched Dec 2011? sea trial 2013? commissioned 2014? in total 5 years?
Realistically this ship won't sail with the indian navy before 2020, that too would represent an precendented feat for india's ship building industry. Take a look at the french carrier Charles de Gaulle a ship that is similar in size to Vikrant:
laid down 14 April 1989, launched 7 May 1994, commissioned 18 May 2001
