Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioned India's first indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, in the Indian Navy. He also revealed the new Naval Ensign, whose previous iteration appeared to look like a victorian cross. Navy's Warship Design Bureau built the largest ship in Indian history in collaboration with Cochin Shipyard Limited, a Public Sector Shipyard under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, 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 is named after its predecessor that helped defeat Pakistan in 1971. Over 100 MSMEs helped build the enormous ship.
INS Vikrant is a 262-meter-long ship that displaces a whopping 45,000 tonnes. Vikrant can carry 30 aircraft, including the MiG 29k fighter jets. It can also play a massive role in battles that involve anti-air, anti-surface and land attack warfare.
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. It is the largest ship built in India's history.
Vikrant has 14 decks, and 2,300 compartments that can carry 1,500 sailors into the sea.
Four gas turbines that churn out a power of 88 megawatts can propel the ship to a maximum speed of 28 knots. The project that took nearly 15 years to be completed cost Rs 20,000 crore.
Vikrant has been built with a high degree of automation for machinery operation, ship navigation and survivability, and has been designed to accommodate an assortment of fixed-wing and rotary aircraft.
It uses a system called STOBAR (Short Take-Off but Arrested Landing) that would enable aircraft to overtake and land easily.
Various engineering powerhouses like BEL, BHEL, GRSE, Keltron Kirloskar, Larsen & Toubro, and Wartsila India, contributed to the construction of the behemoth.
INS Vikrant has 32 cells that work on what is called Verticle Launching System. It has eight cells each for four missiles. INS Vikrant has four Otobreda dual-purpose cannons that can be remotely operated. These cannons can rotate 360 degrees and destroy the enemy's fighter jets, helicopters, and battleships.
Their muzzles can fire at angles ranging from 15 degrees to 85 degrees.
They can fire at a rate of 120 rounds per minute with a speed of 915 meters per second, Aaj Tak reported.
Their range is between 16 to 20 kilometers.
The ship is also equipped with AK 630 point defense system guns. The gun needs just one person to operate it completely. It can rotate in all directions and can fire at the rate of 4000 rounds per minute.
INS Vikrant, India's first-ever indigenously built aircraft carrier, has instilled a new confidence in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the commissioning event.
"Today, India has joined those countries of the world, which build such a huge aircraft carrier with indigenous technology. Today INS Vikrant has filled the country with new confidence, and instilled a new confidence in the country," he said.
