Indigenous carrier INS Vikrant to be fully operational by year-end: Navy Chief

Published: 16th Feb, 2023

Context

The country’s first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, which is currently undergoing aviation trials, will be fully operational by year-end.

About

About INS Vikrant

INS Vikrant was commissioned into the Navy last September.
Speed: The 262 m long and 62 m wide INS Vikrant is powered by four General Electric LM2500 engines, which give it a maximum speed of 28 Knots and an endurance of 7500 nautical miles.
INS Vikrant has been built with state-of-the-art automation features and is the largest ship ever built in the maritime history of India.
It has a large amount of indigenous equipment and machinery, involving major industrial houses in the country as well as over 100 MSMEs.
The carrier displaces about 45,000 tonnes, making it the largest warship in the Indian naval inventory.
It is designed by the Indian Navy's in-house Warship Design Bureau (WDB) and built by Cochin Shipyard Limited, a Public Sector Shipyard under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.
INS Vikrant carries a mix of about 30 aircraft MIG-29K fighter jets, Kamov-31, MH-60R multi-role helicopters, in addition to indigenously manufactured Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) and Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) (Navy).

Other important defence developments

The indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA-Navy) and Mig-29K carried out their maiden landings on the carrier earlier this month.
MF-STAR [multi-functional digital active electronically scanned array radar] fitment will commence from May onwards and should take 3-4 months time.
It was an accomplishment that the LCA-Navy landed on the INS Vikrant within six months of its commissioning.
In January 2020, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had successfully demonstrated an arrested landing of LCA-Navy on INS Vikramaditya.
The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) under DRDO embarked on developing a Twin Engine Deck-Based Fighter (TEDBF) with a weight of 26 tonnes and wing folding, based on the experience of the LCA-Navy.
- The TEDBF project is expected to get approval from the Cabinet Committee on Security shortly, along with the AMCA (Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft) project for the development of a 5th generation fighter jet.
Installation of the Long Range Surface to Air Missile (LR-SAM) system and the MF-STAR radar are pending, as the carrier has to be taken into the dry-dock.
- The LR-SAM is a joint development by DRDO and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), and is manufactured by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL).
- MF-STAR is manufactured by IAI and is also in service on other frontline warships on the Indian Navy.

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