A fortnight ago, an opinion column in this newspaper argued for the early construction of a second indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC-2) for the Indian Navy. The first indigenous carrier, IAC-1, which has been constructed by Cochin Shipyard Ltd, will soon be commissioned as INS Vikrant. Alongside INS Vikramditya, which was bought from Russia in 2014, the Navy will then operate two 44,000-tonne carriers.The proposed 65,000-tonne IAC-2, which would take at least another decade in construction, would be the fleet’s third carrier. With one of those under repair or refit at any given time, the Navy would still have two carriers available and ready for operations.The measure of an aircraft carrier’s power is its air wing. A carrier roughly embarks one aircraft for each 1,000 tonnes of displacement. Both Vikramaditya and Vikrant displace 44,000 tonnes, allowing each to embark 25-30 fixed wing aircraft, along with 10 helicopters of various kinds.