INS Vikrant Commissioned: Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently commissioned India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier Indian Nava Ship (INS) Vikrant at Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) in Kochi, Kerala.

Key Highlights:

• The commissioning of INS Vikrant showcases India's growing prowess of indigenous manufacturing and a major milestone in the path towards ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.
• With Vikrant, India has joined a select group of nations having the niche capability to indigenously design and build an aircraft carrier.
• As of now, countries such as the US, Russia, France, China, and the UK can design and develop an aircraft carrier from the scratch.
• INS Vikrant is the country's second aircraft carrier after INS Vikramaditya, which was built on a Russian platform.
• During the event, the Prime Minister also unveiled the new Naval Ensign (Nishaan), doing away with the colonial past and befitting the rich Indian maritime heritage.

• He dedicated the new ensign to Chhatrapati Shivaji.

About INS Vikrant:

• The Indigenous Aircraft Carrier is named after her illustrious predecessor, India's first aircraft carrier, which had played a vital role in the 1971 war.

• Vikrant means victorious and gallant in English.

Design and Development:

• The aircraft carrier is designed by the Indian Navy’s in-house Warship Design Bureau (WDB) and built by Cochin Shipyard Limited, a state unit under the ministry of ports, shipping and waterways.
• Several design iterations, including the use of 3D Virtual Reality models and advanced engineering software, were used by the Directorate of Naval Design in shaping the design of the carrier.
• It has been built using indigenous equipment and machinery supplied by India's major industrial houses as well as more than 100 MSMEs.
• The warship grade steel required for construction of the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier or IAC was successfully indigenised through SAIL in collaboration with Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL) and the Indian Navy.

Key Features:

• Touted as “the city on the move”, Vikrant has been built with state-of-the-art automation features.
• It is the largest ship ever built in the maritime history of India.
• Its sheer size of the flight deck can be compared to two football fields.
• The ship is 262 m long, 62 m wide and 18 stories tall.
• It has a full displacement of close to 45,000 tonnes which is much larger and more advanced than her predecessor.
• The ship is powered by four gas turbines totalling 88 MW power.
• It can attain a maximum speed of 28 knots with an endurance of 7500 nautical miles.
• This warship carries a mix of about 30 aircraft.
• It could fly the MiG 29k fighter aircraft in anti-air, anti-surface and land attack roles.
• It will be able to operate the Kamov-31 which is an early air warning helicopter, the recently inducted but yet-to-be commissioned MH-60R which is a multi-role helicopter as also our very indigenous ALH.
• The ship would be capable of operating an air wing consisting of 30 aircraft comprising of MIG-29K fighter jets, Kamov-31, MH-60R multi-role helicopters, in addition to indigenously manufactured Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) and Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) (Navy).
• Using a novel aircraft-operation mode known as STOBAR (Short Take-Off but Arrested Landing), the IAC is equipped with a ski- jump for launching aircraft, and a set of 'arrester wires' for their recovery onboard.

Facilities:

• It consists of 14 decks with 2,300 compartments which can carry around 1,500 sea warriors and to cater to the food requirements.
• The ship not only been designed with specialized compartments to accommodate women officers and sailors but it is also fitted with a physiotherapy clinic, ICU, laboratories and isolation ward.
• It has been built with a high degree of automation for machinery operation, ship navigation and survivability, and has been designed to accommodate an assortment of fixed-wing and rotary aircraft.

Construction Timeline:

• Constructed at a cost close to Rs. 20,000 crore progressed in three Phases of the contract between MoD and CSL, concluded in May 2007, December 2014 and October 2019 respectively.

The ship's keel was laid in Feb 2009, followed by launching in August 2013.