Boost for Indian Navy as indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant joins Western Fleet

MUMBAI — In a major boost to the maritime power of the Navy, INS Vikrant, India’s indigenous aircraft carrier, joined the Western Fleet, in the Arabian Sea, officials said here on Friday.

The Carrier Battle Group, led by INS Vikramaditya, inducted INS Vikrant with a multi-domain exercise and twin Carrier fighter operations in the Arabian Sea, giving an edge to the Navy’s ‘Sword Arm’.

The INS Vikrant is the Navy’s fourth aircraft carrier and the first built indigenously at the Cochin Shipyard Ltd. at Kochi in Kerala, and will now be based at the naval base in Karwar, Karnataka.

The majestic aircraft carrier is a sleek 262 metres (860 feet) long and 62 metres (203 feet) wide and displaces around 45,000 tonnes.

It can sail with an air group of up to 36 aircraft, including 26 fixed-wing combat aircraft, plus a mix of helicopters, all equipped with a plethora of lethal weapons, plus search and rescue operations.

The INS Vikrant is equipped with four GE gas turbines on two shafts that can generate over 80MW power – enough to illuminate a small city with a population of 20 lakh.

Its combat management system (CMS) was developed by Tata Advanced Systems, making it the first by a private company for the Navy, and handed over in March 2019.

INS Vikrant, one of the two operational aircraft carriers along with INS Vikramaditya for the Navy, has 2,300 compartments manned by 1,700 sailors, a hospital complex, cabins for female officers and some 8 km of corridors.

The ship was first authorised in 1999 by then Defence Minister George Fernandes, its keel was laid in 2009 by former Defence Minister A. K. Antony and launched in 2013, sea trials started in August 2021.

Later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioned it to the Navy on September 2, 2022, and INS Vikrant achieved full operational status in November 2023, and has finally joined the Navy’s Western Fleet on the high seas on Friday.

In February this year, INS Vikrant, along with INS Vikramaditya, participated in the Milan 2024 multinational naval exercise hosted by the Navy, with the concluding sea phase of the exercises held on board the ship (INS Vikrant).