Aircraft Carrier INS Vikrant Commissioned

Asia News Agency

Aircraft Carrier INS Vikrant Commissioned

The first ever India-made aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant,  was commissioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday at the Cochin Shipyard. INS Vikrant is the largest ship ever built in India's maritime history at a cost of Rs 20,000 crore. PM Modi also unveiled the new Naval Ensign (Nishaan), doing away with the colonial past.

Vikrant is named after her predecessor, India’s first Aircraft Carrier which played a vital role in the 1971 war is all set to be commissioned

Stating that this marks a defining moment, Sushant Kulkarni (Special Correspondent with The Indian Express' Pune bureau and reports on issues related to defence and crime) writes “INS Vikrant will strengthen the countrys standing as a Blue Water Navy’ — a maritime force with global reach and capability to operate over deep seas.

“With it, India also joins the elite group of nations the US, Russia, France, the UK and China who are capable of designing and constructing aircraft carriers. Also, with a displacement of 43,000 tonnes when fully loaded, INS Vikrant is set to be the seventh largest among the carriers or carrier classes in the world.”

Indigenous design and construction: Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL), a public sector shipbuilding entity under the Ministry of Shipping, was tasked to build the ship. This was the first warship construction project for the CSL.

Vikrant has been built at an approximate cost of Rs 20,000 crore. The Navy has said that around 80 to 85% has been ploughed back into the Indian economy with complete indigenous construction, 76% indigenous content and with employment given to 2,000 CSL personnel with another 13,000 being employed indirectly.

The equipment, amenities and apparatus onboard: Kulkarni writes the “INS Vikrant is 262 metres long and 62 metres wide, making its flight deck bigger than two football fields. The aircraft carrier displaces around 4,3000 tonnes when fully loaded, with a maximum designed speed of 28 knots with endurance of 7,500 nautical miles, which is equivalent to around 14,000 km.

“The 18-floor high ship has close to 2,400 compartments, designed to house 1,600-strong crew. It also has specialised cabins to accommodate women officers and sailors. The aviation hangar is as big as two Olympic-size pools that can accommodate around 20 aircraft. There is a well-equipped kitchen that can serve a diverse menu. It also has a unit that makes 3,000 rotis per hour.

“Its medical complex has a 16-bed hospital along with modular emergency operation theatre, physiotherapy clinic, Intensive Care Unit, pathology set up, radiology wing with a CT scanner and X-Ray machines, a dental complex, isolation ward and telemedicine facilities.”

Fully operational mode: In its fully operational mode, Kulkarni writes “the carrier will have an air wing consisting of 30 aircraft comprising of Russian-origin, carrier-capable MiG-29K fighter jets and airborne early warning control helicopter Kamov-31 helicopters, US origin MH-60R multi-role helicopters, in addition to homegrown Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) and Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) (Navy). Vikrant uses the Short Take Off but Arrested Recovery (STOBAR) model with a ski-jump for launching aircraft, and a set of three arrester wires for their recovery onboard.”

On operationalising INS Vikrant, the Navy has said, In line with the prevailing practices being followed by other advanced countries having experience of building aircraft carriers, the deck integration trials of fixed wing aircraft and exploitation of Aviation Facility Complex will be carried out post commissioning of the ship when the operational command and control of the ship, including flight safety, is with the Navy.

Flight trials: The flight trials of INS Vikrant are set to begin by November and the carrier is expected to be fully operational by mid-2023, Vice Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral SN Ghormade said.

Need for a third carrier: Top Naval commanders have been insisting for a third carrier apart from Russian-origin Kiev-class INS Vikramaditya and INS Vikrant. Kulkarni writes “the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier-II will be named INS Vishal with a proposed displacement of around 65,000 tonnes, equalling the Queen Elizabeth-class of carriers of the UK. The idea is for India to have two carriers at any given point in time, if a third is in the refit.”

According to senior officials, the decision to give a nod to construct IAC-II not just has political, economic and strategic considerations, but also one of Indias projected standing as a global maritime power. The decision also needs to be looked at from the standpoint of how China is rapidly pursuing its carrier programme with their third carrier already in the making and more in the pipeline, officials said.

 

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