India will get delivery of its much-awaited aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya from Russia by December next year, Defence Minister A.K. Antony has said, amid reports that Moscow will hand over the leased Nerpa nuclear submarine next month.
India expects to "induct" it into their navy by the end of next year. I don't know if "induct" means it will be operational by then or just manned and equipped in preparation for training to make it fully capable.
With China's aircraft carrier at sea but not ready to fight, India still has an advantage in naval air power over China. Plus India has lots of experience in carrier operations.
If it comes to war, it will be interesting to see whether China has more luck pushing naval power into the Bay of Bengal or India has more luck pushing naval power into the South China Sea. Either would face land-based air power to possibly overwhelm the carrier-based fighters each will have if either pushes into the home waters of the other. Who will have better land-based air power in offensive support? China could deploy aircraft to Burma (Myanmar) or even Pakistan. Could India count on Vietnam or even Taiwan to host aircraft?
And will China's "carrier-killer" DF-21 ballistic missiles be a decisive edge for China in a naval war with India?
My guess is that both would keep their carriers in home waters in a defensive crouch out of fear of losing them, rather than push them into the teeth of the other side's defenses. Losing their carriers would be a big propaganda defeat.
Submarines and land-based air (including anti-ship ballistic missiles in China's case only--so far) would probably be the safest way to project power.
