The Indian Navy has created history with the induction of the indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, built by the Cochin Shipyard, into its fleet. With the handing over of Vikrant to the Navy, India has become one of the few nations that manufacture aircraft carriers within the country.
Vikrant will join the Indian Navy and become fully functional by next month. India’s first aircraft carrier was also named Vikrant which played an important role in the 1971 war. After 36 years of excellent service, Vikrant was relieved on 31 January 1997.
IAC-1 is the largest warship ever built in India. Its weight is about 45,000 tonnes. It is also considered to be the country’s most ambitious naval ship project. The new vessel is significantly larger and more advanced than its predecessor, which is 262 meters in length. It will get a total power of 88 MW through four gas turbines.
The maximum speed of this vessel is 28 nautical miles. Accordingly, the project, costing around Rs 20,000 crore, proceeded in three phases with a contract between the Defense Ministry and CSL.