India will launch its first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant on Monday, making an entry into a select club of countries capable of designing and building a carrier of this size and capability.
Defence minister A.K. Antony’s wife Elizabeth will launch the 37,500-tonne carrier at Kochi shipyard close to four-and-a-half years after its keel was laid by the minister.
Other countries capable of designing and building an equivalent size ship are the US, the UK, Russia and France. The launch will mark the end of the first phase of its construction and it will then be re-docked for outfitting and construction of superstructure.
It is set to go for extensive trials in 2016 before being inducted into the Navy by 2018-end, as per its schedule. MiG 29K, light combat aircraft and Kamov 31 could fly from the carrier.
The launch will be the “crowning glory” of Indian Navy’s indigenisation programme, said Vice-Admiral R.K. Dhowan, the Vice-Chief of Naval Staff.
Apart from domestic design and manufacturing work, it is the high-grade warship steel made by the Steel Authority of India which has been used for building the ship.
The ship, with a length of 260m and breadth of 60m, has been designed by Directorate of Naval Design and is being built at Cochin Shipyard Limited.