Indian Naval interest in E-MALS

According to reports, the governments of India and the US have made “some progress”on the launch system for the Indian Navy’s next carrier (IAC II), specifically for the electric propelled latest electromagnetic aircraft launch system (E-MALS). An 11 member US team led by Rear Admiral Brian Antonio, Programme Executive Officer, aircraft carriers met his Indian counterpart Vice Admiral D M Deshpande, Controller Warship Production and Acquisition in Goa, wherein “the US was ready to power the E-MALS with integrated electric propulsion rather than nuclear power as the cost of latter alone is over $ 1 billion.” This will involve installation of giant capacitors for storage and discharge of power. IAC-II will be powered by heavy fuels instead of nuclear reactors as the cost of the latter amounts to a massive Rs 2 lakh crore.