The 45,000 tonne sea-going aircraft carrier is slated to be commissioned in few weeks

The Indian Navy created maritime history on Thursday as it took delivery of the indigenous aircraft carrier ‘Vikrant’ from the public sector ship builder, Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), Kochi.

Designed by Indian Navy’s in-house Directorate of Naval Design (DND) and built by CSL, a public sector shipyard under the Ministry of Shipping (MoS), the carrier is christened after her illustrious predecessor, India’s first aircraft carrier which played a vital role in the 1971 War with Pakistan.

The 45,000 tonne sea-going aircraft carrier is slated to be commissioned in a few weeks from now.

The 262-meter-long carrier is powered by four gas turbines totalling 88 MW power and has a maximum speed of 28 knots.

Built at an overall cost of close to Rs 20,000 crore, the project has been progressed in three phases of a contract between MoD and CSL, concluded in May 2007, December 2014 and October 2019, respectively.

The ship’s keel was laid in February 2009, followed by launching in August 2013.

With an overall indigenous content of 76 per cent, India has joined a select group of nations having the niche capability to indigenously design and build an aircraft carrier.

Vikrant has been built with 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. The ship would be capable of operating air wing consisting of 30 aircraft comprising the 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).

The ship has large number of indigenous equipment and machinery, involving major industrial houses in the country like BEL, BHEL, GRSE, Keltron, Kirloskar, Larsen & Toubro, Wartsila India, etc., as well as over 100 MSMEs.

A major spin-off of this is the development and production of indigenous warship grade steel for the ship through a partnership between the Navy, DRDO and Steel Authority of India (SAIL), which has enabled the country to become self-sufficient with respect to warship steel. Today all the warships being built in the country are manufactured using indigenous steel.

Several design iterations, including use of 3D virtual reality models and advanced engineering softwares, were used by the Directorate of Naval Design in shaping the design of the carrier. CSL had also upgraded their shipbuilding infrastructure as well as enhanced productivity skills during the building of the ship.

Delivery of the Vikrant was marked by signing of acceptance documents on behalf of the Indian Navy by the Commanding Officer Designate of Vikrant, representatives of Naval Headquarters and Warship Overseeing Team (Kochi) and by the Chairman and Managing Director on behalf of Cochin Shipyard Ltd., in the presence of senior officers of the Navy and Cochin Shipyard.

The Vikrant has been delivered to the Navy by CSL following extensive user acceptance trials conducted between August 2021 and July 2022, during which ship’s performance, including hull, main propulsion, auxiliary equipment, aviation facilities, weapon and sensors, as well as sea-keeping and manoeuvring capabilities, were proved satisfactory in accordance with trial protocols and system parameters.

Courtesy: The Tribune India :27th July , 2022