By Apekshita Sonowal

INS Vikrant R11, India’s first indigenously built aircraft carrier and largest warship of India was commissioned yesterday at the Cochin Shipyard Limited in Kochi, Kerala on September 2.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, calling it a “historic event” and “an example of the Government’s thrust to making India’s defence sector self-reliant.”

Other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Governor of Kerala, Arif Mohammad Khan, Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan. Union Ministers, Rajnath Singh, Sarbananda Sonowal, V Muraleedharan, Ajay Bhat, National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, and Chief of Naval Staff R Hari Kumar graced the occasion.

The Prime Minister says “Vikrant is huge, massive, and vast. Vikrant is distinguished, Vikrant is also special. Vikrant is not just a warship. This is a testament to the hard work, talent, influence and commitment of India in the 21^st century. If the goals are distant, the journeys are long, the ocean and the challenges are endless – then India's answer is Vikrant. The incomparable Amrit of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav is Vikrant. Vikrant is a unique reflection of India becoming self-reliant.”

According to PIB's official press release, INS Vikrant is designed by the Indian Navy’s in-house Warship Design Bureau 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 the maritime history of India. Every bit of INS Vikrant is made up of using indigenous equipment and machinery supplied by India's major industrial houses as well as over 100 MSMEs.

According to the Indian Navy, the INS Vikrant is 262-meter-long and 62 m wide and a height of 59 meters and has a full displacement of about 45,000 tonnes and is built at a cost of 20,000 crore.

Addressed as the floating city by PM Modi, INS Vikrant has 18 floors and consists of 14 decks with 2,300 compartments that can carry a crew of up to 1700 including specialized cabins for women officers and sailors and also cater to the food requirements, i.e., around 10,000 chapatis or rotis are made in the ship’s kitchen which is called the ship’s galley. Made out of 26000 indigenous tonnes of steel, developed by DRDO scientists and produced by Indian companies, the IAC Vikrant is capable of constructing almost 4 Eiffel towers.  

Apart from these, the hangar where the aircraft will be kept is said to be big enough to accommodate two Olympic pools. Furthermore, the aircraft will be capable of operating an air wing consisting of 30 aircraft comprising 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), the IAC is equipped with a ski-jump for launching aircraft, and a set of three ‘arrester wires’ for their recovery on board.

IAC Vikrant has also a fully-fledged medical area with the latest medical equipment facilities that include major modular OT, emergency modular OT, physiotherapy clinic, ICU, laboratories, CT scanner, X-Ray machines, Dental complex, Isolation ward, telemedicine facilities, etc.

PM Modi also said that it produces electricity that is sufficient to power 5000 households and the wiring used will reach Kashi from Kochi.

The Indigenous Aircraft Carrier has been named after her illustrious predecessor, India’s first aircraft carrier which played a vital role in the 1971 war.

Source- PIB/ANI