Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi commissioned the country’s first indigenous aircraft carrier Indian Naval Ship (INS) Vikrant at Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) on September 02, 2022.
Importance of INS Vikrant
- INS Vikrant will strengthen the country’s standing as a ‘Blue Water Navy’ — a maritime force with global reach and capability to operate over deep seas.
- It is a symbol of indigenous potential, indigenous resources and indigenous skills.
- The steel installed in its airbase is also indigenous, developed by DRDO scientists and produced by Indian companies.
- It produces electricity that is sufficient to power 5000 households and the wiring used will reach Kashi from Kochi.
About INS Vikrant
- INS Vikrant is designed by Indian Navy’s in-house Warship Design Bureau (WDB) and built by Cochin Shipyard Limited, a Public Sector Shipyard under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways.
- Vikrant has been built with state of the art automation features and is the largest ship ever built in maritime history of India.
- The 262.5 m long and 61.6 m wide Vikrant displaces approx 43,000 T, having a maximum designed speed of 28 Knots with endurance of 7,500 Nautical Miles.
- The ship has around 2,200 compartments, designed for a crew of around 1,600 including women officers and sailors.
- The carrier is designed with a very high degree of automation for machinery operations, ship navigation and survivability.
- The carrier is equipped with the latest state of the art equipment and systems.
- The ship is capable of operating 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 Short Take Off But Arrested Recovery (STOBAR), INS Vikrant is equipped with a ski-jump for launching aircraft, and a set of ‘arrester wires’ for their recovery onboard.
- With 76% indigenous content, construction of INS Vikrant has resulted in direct employment generation for over 2,000 employees of CSL.
- In addition, it has resulted in indirect employment generation for approx 12,500 employees for over 550 OEMs, sub-contractors, ancillary industries and over 100 MSMEs as well, thereby bolstering plough back effect on economy.
