NEW DELHI: The defence ministry is doing a rethink on a prohibitively expensive naval programme for a futuristic aircraft carrier and is evaluating options for more optimal utilisation of resources for other critical purchases — like submarines and advanced frigates Officials have confirmed to ET that the Navy’s plan for a 65,000 ton nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to be fitted with an American catapult system is not likely to get financial clearances soon as the ministry was looking at other options. While a detailed project report for the carrier is ongoing and the Indo-US Joint Working Group on Aircraft Carrier Technology Cooperation (JWGACTC) is in place, officials say that the next step involving release of more funds could be deferred.Defence minister Manohar Parrikar when asked told ET that he could not comment on the matter as he had not taken a decision on the project as of now. Navy officials said that they have not received information on the future of the plan yet.A reason for the rethink is the massive cost involved in the new-age aircraft carrier. By conservative estimates, the cost of construction of the carrier itself, without the aircraft, would exceed Rs 70,000 crore. The high cost is primarily due to the integration of the nuclear plant as well as the American electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) being planned.As of now, the defence ministry has allocated Rs30 crore to the project after an approval by the highpowered defence acquisition committee last year. Officials have told ET that out of this, only Rs 2 crore has been released in this financial year for the project.With other critical naval projects requiring attention — including two lines of indigenous nuclear powered submarines — a line of thinking within the defence ministry is that allocating huge resources to a single platform would not be prudent.“The aircraft carrier itself is expensive and also requires a number of warships and platforms around it to operate at sea. We also have other pressing needs of the Navy to consider,” a defence ministry official said.For the Indian Navy, the aircraft carrier has always been central to projection of power & status as the dominant maritime force of the region. Since independence, Navy has operated three aircraft carriers — the Vikrant, Viraat and Vikramaditya. Another one — also to be named Vikrant — is under construction in Kochi.