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

Tags: Defence

Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioned India's first indigenously designed and built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant in Kochi on 2 September.

IMPORTANT FACTS -

• The aircraft carrier has been built at the Cochin Shipyard Limited in Kochi at a cost of ₹20,000 crore.

• With its commissioning, India has joined a select group (US, Russia, France, the UK and China) of countries that have the unique capability to indigenously design and build aircraft carriers.

• The aircraft carrier is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities.

• The Prime Minister unveiled a plaque to commemorate the induction of INS Vikrant, named after its predecessor, which played a key role in the Navy in the 1971 Indo-Pak war.

• He also unveiled the new Naval Flag (Nishaan) on the occasion.

INS Vikrant :

• INS Vikrant, also known as Indigenous Aircraft Carrier 1.

• It has been designed by the Indian Navy's in-house Warship Design Bureau (WDB) and built by Cochin Shipyard Limited.

• It is the first aircraft carrier to be built in India.

• It has been named 'Vikrant' as a tribute to India's first aircraft carrier, Vikrant.

• The Indian Naval Ship Vikrant played an important role in the 1971 war.

• The 262-metre-long carrier has a full displacement of around 45,000 tonnes which is more advanced than its predecessor.

• It is powered by four gas turbines with a total power of 88 MW and has a maximum speed of 28 knots.

• The project was executed in three phases of contract between the Ministry of Defence and CSL, which were concluded in May 2007, December 2014 and October 2019 respectively.