Mumbai (Maharashtra): The country's indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant joined the western naval fleet, in a significant enhancement to maritime power in the Arabian Sea, the Indian Navy said on Friday. With this, the Indian Navy has two aircraft carriers INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya on its western front.
Both aircraft carriers are in Karwar, Karnataka, an official said. INS Vikrant, India's indigenous aircraft carrier, joined the @IN_WesternFleet , in a significant enhancement to the maritime power and reach of the #IndianNavy 's 'Sword Arm'. The Carrier Battle Group led by @IN_Vikramaditya inducted @IN_R11Vikrant with a multi domain exercise and twin Carrier fighter operations in the Arabian Sea, the Western Naval Command said in a post on X.
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. INS 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 approximately 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.
