Indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant on maiden voyage to Mumbai showcased its array of fighter jets MiG-29K aircraft, MH-60 Romeo helicopters, Kamov Ka-31 helicopters, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA NAVY), and other light helicopters on its flight deck. The warship had also hosted Australian PM Anthony Albanese onboard while on a four-day visit to India on Thursday.
Vikrant not only has defence but also civilian use as well
Speaking to The Free Press Journal, the commanding officer of Vikrant captain Vidyadhar Harke said that over 500 ancillary units and many other industries have got boost because of the aircraft carrier. “Construction of naval ships is important for defence of the nation but also ploughs back into the economic and technology growth of India. Many of the technologies developed for Vikrant have applications for civilian use like the cables, and steel developed for the warship is useful for other infrastructure development,” explained captain Harke.
India has come a long way: commanding officer
He was also proud of the naval architects and the naval warship bureau for the design of the modern aircraft carrier. “India has come a long way from designing small boats in the 1960s to the Godavari and Delhi class of warships and now designing and building submarines and aircraft carriers,” added the beaming commanding officer of Vikrant.
The only indigenous aircraft carrier India has ever built, Vikrant paid its first visit to Mumbai headquarters of the Indian Navy western fleet. This 262m-long aircraft carrier displaces 45,000 tonnes with flight deck equivalent to the size of two football fields, hangars twice the size of Olympic pools and standing tall at 18 storeys with 14 decks, over 2,200 compartments having 1,600-strong crew.
Vikrant in its previous avatar was British warship HMS Hercules launched in 1945, commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1961 and decommissioned in 1997 while the new made in India aircraft carrier Vikrant to match an aggressive China with a much larger naval fleet was commissioned in Kochi last September.
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