PM Modi commissions INS Vikrant, India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier

India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant was commissioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today (Friday) in India’s southern Kochi city.

It is designed by the Indian Navy’s in-house Warship Design Bureau (WDB) and built by Cochin Shipyard Limited, a state unit under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.

Touted as “the city on the move”, Vikrant has been built with state-of-the-art automation features and is the largest ship ever built in the maritime history of India.

The aircraft carrier is named after her illustrious predecessor and India`s first aircraft carrier, which played a vital role in the 1971 war.

INS Vikrant is the country's second aircraft carrier after INS Vikramaditya, which was built on a Russian platform.

The warship is 262 metres long and 62 metres wide. To understand how big it is, the warship is as massive as two football fields end to end and 18 floors tall, the Navy said in a video.

Speaking about the specifications of INS Vikrant, Vice Admiral Hampiholi had said, "Vikrant carries a mix of about 30 aircraft. It could fly the MiG 29k fighter aircraft in anti-air, anti-surface and land attack roles. It will be able to operate the Kamov 31 which is an early air warning helicopter, the recently inducted but yet-to-be commissioned MH-60R which is a multi-role helicopter as also our very indigenous ALH. It displaces about 45,000 tonnes which is definitely the largest warship in the Indian naval inventory”, reports ANI news agency.

With the commissioning of Vikrant, India has joined a select group of nations having the niche capability to indigenously design and build an aircraft carrier.

Vikrant consist of 14 decks with 2,300 compartments which can carry around 1,500 sea warriors and to cater to the food requirements, around 10,000 chapatis or rotis are made in the ship`s kitchen, which is called the ship’s galley.

The ship is powered by four Gas Turbines totalling 88 MW power and has a maximum speed of 28 Knots.