Indian Navy takes delivery of Indigenous Aircraft Carrier ‘INS Vikrant’ | India News

Indian Navy receives indigenous aircraft carrier ‘Vikrant’

NEW DELHI: Indians Navy on Thursday received their first indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC), with a 45,000-ton warship’INS Vikrant‘built at a cost of nearly Rs 20,000 crore delivered by Cochin Shipyard.
In a related development, two of the 24 MH-60 “Romeo” helicopters that hunt submarines, armed with Hellfire missiles, MK-54 torpedoes and precision-kill missiles, have arrived from the US in Kochi. , with the third expected to arrive next month.
All 24 helicopters, also equipped with multi-mode radar and night vision equipment, will arrive in 2025 under a contract of Rs 15,157 ($2.13 billion) signed with the US in February 2020. The MH-60R will also operate from the IAC like other frontline warships.
The 262 m long and 62 m wide IAC, capable of carrying 30 fighter jets and helicopters, will be commissioned in the second half of August. It will then be named INS Vikrant after the model airliner. India’s first ship was acquired from Britain in 1961, played an important role in the war in 1971, and was finally decommissioned in 1997.
Powered by four gas turbines with a total capacity of 88 MW, the IAC has an overall native content of 76%. It will have a crew of 1,700 people, including women, and the ability to operate at around 7,500 knots at a cruising speed of 18 knots.
But while the Navy has conducted extensive sea trials of the long-delayed IAC for more than a year, aviation tests of MiG-29K fighters and helicopters such as the Kamov -31 and MH-60R on its deck will only start later this year. . In fact, this carrier – first sanctioned by the government in January 2003 – will be fully operational only by mid-2023.
In contrast, China has the largest navy in the world with 355 warships and submarines compared to India’s 130 warships, and has also launched the third aircraft carrier Fujian, with a tonnage of more than 130. 80,000 tons last month. It is also rapidly building a fourth aircraft carrier, while increasing its presence in the world Indian Ocean Region.
The Fujian has a CATOBAR (catapult assisted take-off but captured recovery) configuration for launching fighter aircraft as well as heavier aircraft for surveillance, early warning and electronic warfare from its deck.
In turn, the US has 11 “super” 100,000-ton nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, each carrying 80-90 fighter jets and aircraft. However, the Indian government has yet to even give preliminary approval for the construction of a third aircraft carrier, which will take more than a decade.
Furthermore, both the existing 44,500 ton INS Vikramaditya, purchased from Russia for $2.33 billion in November 2013 along with 45 other MiG-29Ks for $2 billion, as well as the IAC with only jumps ski slopes so that fighters can take off under their own power during STOBAR (short take-off but captured) operations. This restricts them from operating heavier aircraft.
As TOI previously reported, with the native twin-engine fighter jet going at least a decade ago, the Navy is now also fast-tracking the purchase of at least 24-26 combat aircraft to operate. from IAC. The two rivals are the French Rafale-M and the US F/A-18, in a multi-billion dollar government-to-government deal.