Indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant – the largest and most complex warship India has ever designed and built – set off on its maiden sea trials yesterday, 50 years after its namesake’s key role in the 1971 war.
A tweet from the Navy Spokesperson’s handle hailed this “proud and historical moment for India”, particularly since it represents another step in the government’s quest for an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and the ‘Make in India’ initiative, and promised “many more will follow…”
“India joins a select group of nations having niche capability to indigenously design, build and integrate a state-of-the-art aircraft carrier. Reaching this milestone despite COVID-19 challenges (was) made possible by dedicated efforts of all stakeholders,” the Navy said.
INS Vikrant is 262 metres long, 62 metres at its widest and 59 metres high, including the superstructure.
There are 14 decks in all, including five in the superstructure. The ship has over 2,300 compartments, designed for a crew of around 1,700 people, including specialised cabins to accommodate women officers.
The ship has been designed with a high degree of automation for machinery operation, ship navigation and survivability. INS Vikrant has a top speed of around 28 knots and cruising speed of 18 knots with an endurance of about 7,500 nautical miles. The ship can accommodate an assortment of fixed wing and rotary aircraft.
Designed by the Indian Navy’s Directorate of Naval Design (DND), the carrier has been built at Cochin Shipyard Limited, a public sector shipyard under the Ministry of Shipping.
The progress in the construction of the carrier was reviewed by defence minister Rajnath Singh during his visit in June. The sea trials had been delayed due to the second wave of Covid-19 but managed to take place on Wednesday due to the “concentrated effort of the workmen, engineers, inspectors, crew” and so on, the Indian Navy said.
With the construction of INS Vikrant, India has joined a select group of nations with the capability to indigenously design and build an aircraft carrier.
The Indian Navy’s ship building programme involves 44 other ships and submarines on order being built indigenously.
Vikrant has put India in a select league with only the US, the UK, Russia, France and China having the capability to build aircraft carriers.
“Most of the ship’s construction activities have been completed and it has entered the trials phase. Readiness of ship’s propulsion and power generation equipment/systems were tested in harbour as part of basin trials in November 2020,” the navy said in a statement.
India currently operates a solitary aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, bought second-hand from Russia for $2.33 billion. In contrast, China operates two aircraft carriers — CV-16 Liaoning and CV-17 Shandong. It is building a third carrier as it expands its footprint in the Indian Ocean Region.
Designed by the Indian Navy’s Directorate of Naval Design (DND), Vikrant has been built at the state-owned Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL).
