On the 2nd of September Prime minister Narendra Modi commissioned India’s first ever indigenous warship/aircraft carrier which is made up of indigenous equipment and machinery, at Cochin Shipyard.
The carrier is completely designed and built in India and is the result of the collaboration of well over a hundred MSMEs, and major industrial houses in the country viz. BEL, BHEL, GRSE, Keltron, Kirloskar, Wartsila India, etc.
The INS Vikrant is the biggest aircraft carrier ever built in India. It is said to be 262 meters long and 62 meters, with the capacity to carry 30 aircraft, that includes MiG-29 fighter jets and helicopters.
It will also carry a massive crew of nearly 1600 navy men and navy women.
Even though INS Vikrant is a project spanning over a decade, with the beginning of multiple phases of trails at sea on the 21st of august 2021, it was only a matter of time before it became part of the fleet of the Indian Navy.
With INS Vikrant joining the fleet of the Indian Navy, India has joined the ranks of nations such as the US, UK, Russia, China, and France, that can design and build their own aircraft carriers.
INS Vikrant against China
In recent years, China has become more aggressive in its approach, and the intentions of Beijing are very clear regarding the Indian ocean.
China has the intention to take control over the Bay of Bengal in the East.
With Pakistan in the Indian Ocean, the Indian Navy really needed a Second Warship.
The addition of INS Vikrant to the arsenal of the Indian Navy has now given them just the thing they needed to protect India on both the Eastern and Western fronts.
The INS Vikrant is named after its prominent predecessor, India’s first aircraft carrier which had played a vital role in the 1971 war which was called Vikrant, Vikrant means courageous.
A truly remarkable name for an aircraft carrier part of one of the best naval forces in the world.
Prime minister Narendra Modi on INS Vikrant joining Indian Navy Fleet
PM Modi was given the Guard of Honour at the Shipyard, and as a Guard of Honour, he arrived for the Commissioning ceremony.
The honorable Prime minister Narendra Modi described the day as a “landmark day for India’s efforts to become Aatmanirbhar in the defense sector”.
Because INS Vikrant is the first completely indigenous aircraft carrier and a major step in the fight against China.
The Prime minister in a tweet said, “India is becoming Aatmanirbhar in the defense and security sphere. This augurs well for our future”.
A host of dignitaries including but not limited to Defence Minister Rajnath, Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Governor Arif Mohamad Khan, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden, Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar, and some of the top officials of Navy and representatives of Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) attended the event.
The spokesperson of the Indian Navy in a tweet said, “Shaping a Dream Building a Nation, Designed by IndianNavy constructed by @cslcochin, a shining beacon of AatmaNirbharBharat, IAC( indigenous aircraft) Vikrant is now fully prepared to be a part of the Indian navy”. Link to the original tweet
About the INS Vikrant
The aircraft carrier comes with a medical complex equipped with the latest medical equipment including an ICU, a range of laboratories, a clinic for physiotherapy, and an isolation ward that would be tasked to keep the navy soldiers in top-notch condition.
It would be capable of operating an air wing that will have 30 aircraft, made up of MiG-29K fighter jets, Kamov-31, and MH-60R multi-role helicopters. And some made-in-India aircraft.
The air wing would be tasked with surveillance, spotting members of the enemy’s Navy, protection of the carrier, and combat in the sky.
The INS Vikrant is made up of warship-grade steel, which gives it toughness, and state-of-the-art sensors and surveillance equipment, even when fully loaded with the capacity of 43000 tonnes it would be able to achieve a speed upwards of 50 km/h and travel almost 14000km
It would likely be accompanied by nuclear submarines and can be considered the ultimate airbase on the water in our fight against a more aggressive than ever China.
With the addition of INS Vikrant, India’s fleet now stands at two aircraft carriers, 10 destroyers, 12 frigates, and 20 corvettes.
Image credit: Wikipedia
