INS Vikrant

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

INS Vikrant, the country’s first indigenous aircraft carrier and the most complex warship ever built.

The ship is christened after India’s first aircraft carrier Vikrant, which played a vital role in the 1971 war.

• The ship with a displacement of 42,800 tonnes was designed by the Navy’s Warship Design Bureau (WDB) and built by Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), a public sector shipyard under Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterway.
• The ship would be capable of operating an air wing of 30 aircraft comprising 
• MiG-29K fighter jets, 
• Kamov-31 early warning helicopters, and 
• MH-60R multi-role helicopters
• Indigenously manufactured Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) 
• Light Combat Aircraft (LCA-Navy). 
• Fighter aircraft are launched using the Short Take Off But Arrested Recovery (STOBAR) method.
• INS Vikrant is equipped with a ski-jump for launching aircraft, and a set of three ‘arrester wires’ for their recovery onboard.

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.
• 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.