INS Vikrant

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The nation’s first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-1) will be commissioned. The commissioning of the warship, which will be christened ‘Vikrant’, will mark a “historical milestone of realisation of Nation’s commitment towards AatmaNirbharta” (self-reliance).

INS Vikrant

• Vikrant is the largest warship to have ever been built in India, and the first indigenously designed and built aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy. It puts India in an elite club of nations that have the capability to design and build these giant, powerful warships.
• The INS Vikrant – the 44,000-tonne indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) – is the first to be designed and constructed in India.
• After its induction, the warship will be a key component of the Indian Navy’s push to establish itself as a “blue water” force, one with the ability to project its power on distant seas.

Features

• The Vikrant stretches 262 metres in length, exceeding that of two football fields and is 62 metre wide. Around 20 aircraft can be parked in the hangar.
• It has a top speed of around 28 knots (more than 50 kmph) and a cruising speed of 18 knots with an endurance of about 7,500 nautical miles.
• Over 76 per cent of the material and equipment on board the carrier is indigenous, including 21,500 tonnes of special grade steel developed indigenously and used in Indian naval ships for the first time.
• This is the first time in the country that a ship of the size of an aircraft carrier is completely modelled in 3D and production drawings extracted from the 3D model.
• The Made-in-India warship is a feather in the country’s cap, as only five or six nations have the capacity of building an aircraft carrier.
• The ship will be capable of operating 30 aircraft including 

• MiG-29K fighter jets
• Kamov-31 Air Early Warning Helicopters
• MH-60R Seahawk multi-role helicopters
• Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH)

Why is it named Vikrant?

• INS Vikrant was India’s first aircraft carrier, which it acquired from the United Kingdom in 1961.
• It played a key role in the 1971 war with Pakistan which led to the creation of Bangladesh. It was decommissioned in 1997.
• Now India’s first homemade aircraft carrier will carry the name of her illustrious predecessor.

Other Aircraft Carriers

• The Indian Navy has only one operational aircraft carrier at present – the INS Vikramaditya.
• The country’s two earlier carriers, INS Vikrant and INS Viraat, were originally the British-built HMS Hercules and HMS Hermes before being commissioned into the Navy in 1961 and 1987 respectively.