News Highlight
The Indian Navy on Thursday (July 28) took delivery of IAC Vikrant (IAC-1), the nation’s first indigenously built aircraft carrier from its manufacturer, Cochin Shipyard Ltd.
INS Vikrant IAC-1
- INS Vikrant, also known as Indigenous Aircraft Carrier 1, is an aircraft carrier constructed by the Cochin Shipyard Limited for the Indian Navy.
- It is the first aircraft carrier to be built in India.
- It is named ‘Vikrant’ as a tribute to India’s first aircraft carrier, Vikrant.
- Designed by: Indian Navy’s Directorate of Naval Design (DND
- Speed: Propelled by four gas turbines, it can attain a top speed of 28 knots and a cruising speed of 18 knots with an endurance of about 7,500 nautical miles.
- The IAC-1, the biggest warship made indigenously, has an overall length of 263 m and a breadth of 63 m.
- It can carry 30 assorted aircraft, including combat jets and helicopters.
The vessel will have a complement of 1,500 personnel.
Earlier Aircraft in India
- India has had aircraft carriers earlier, too — but those were built either by the British or the Russians.
- The ‘INS Vikramaditya’, commissioned in 2013 and currently the Navy’s only aircraft carrier, started out as the Soviet-Russian warship ‘Admiral Gorshkov’.
- ‘INS Vikrant’ and the ‘INS Viraat’: India’s two earlier carriers, originally the British-built ‘HMS Hercules’ and ‘HMS Hermes’.
- These two warships were commissioned into the Navy in 1961 and 1987, respectively.
Significance of India having an aircraft carrier?
- Powerful Marine Asset
- An aircraft carrier is one of a nation’s most potent marine assets, enhancing a Navy’s ability to travel far from its home shores to carry out air dominance operations.
- Project Nations Strength
- Many experts consider having an aircraft carrier essential to be considered a ‘blue water navy — one that can project a nation’s strength and power across the high seas.
- Capital Ship
- An aircraft carrier generally leads as the capital ship of a carrier strike/battle group.
- As the carrier is a valuable and sometimes vulnerable target, it is usually escorted in the group by destroyers, missile cruisers, frigates, submarines, and supply ships.
Significance of Warship Built in India
- Demonstrated self-reliance
- Currently, only five or six countries can build aircraft carriers, and India has now joined this prestigious club.
- India has demonstrated the capability and self-reliance to build warships that are among the most advanced and sophisticated warships in the world.
- A way to Defence Indigenisation
- According to the Navy, over 76 per cent of the material and equipment on board IAC-1 is indigenous.
- More Employment
- More than 50 Indian manufacturers were directly involved in the project.
- About 2,000 Indians received direct employment on board IAC-1 daily.
- Over 40,000 others were employed indirectly.
- The Navy has calculated that about 80-85 per cent of the project cost of approximately Rs 23,000 crore has been ploughed back into the Indian economy.
Why will this new warship be named ‘INS Vikrant’?
- Once commissioned, the warship will be called ‘INS Vikrant’. This name originally belonged to India’s much-loved first aircraft carrier, a source of immense national pride over several decades of service. It was decommissioned in 1997.
- The original ‘Vikrant’, a Majestic-class 19,500-tonne warship, which was acquired from the UK in 1961, played a stellar role in the 1971 War with Pakistan
What weapons and equipment will the new ‘Vikrant’ have?
- Once commissioned, IAC-1 will be “the most potent sea-based asset”, which will operate the Russian-made MiG-29K fighter aircraft and Kamov-31 Air Early Warning Helicopters, both of which are already in use on the ‘Vikramaditya’.
- The new ‘Vikrant’ will also operate the soon-to-be-inducted
- MH-60R Seahawk multirole helicopter manufactured by the American aerospace and defence company Lockheed Martin,
- Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) built by Bengaluru-based Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
- According to the Navy, the warship will offer an “incomparable military instrument with its ability to project Air Power over long distances
- Which includes Air Interdiction, Anti-Surface Warfare, offensive and defensive Counter-Air, Airborne Anti-Submarine Warfare and Airborne Early Warning”.
Content Source: Financial Express