Vikrant, an additional aircraft carrier will be added to our Navy’s fleet on August 15 this year. Our marine engineers have proved their capacity by building an aircraft carrier warship at Cochin shipyard. Though the ship will be commissioned during the present government’s regime, the process to cut the metal had begun way back in 2006. While India was planning to build a warship, China too had procured a warship to dismantle it, in order to study and acquire the technique of building an aircraft.
Our own aircraft carrier Virat was frequently brought to dry dock at Cochin shipyard for repairs and maintenance. Our engineers studied Virat in order to construct Vikrant. Virat did not have arrest or wires technology as the British aircrafts Sea Harriers taking off or landing on it, did not require long runways. Till date, only America, Britain, France and Russia had the technology to build an aircraft carrier. Our country has found a glorious place in the list now. Aircraft carrier is as good as a big city. The new Vikrant will have 36 fighter planes at a given time. Therefore, aircraft carrier warships Vikramaditya and Vikrant will be responsible for guarding our marine borders, which was once handled by Virat and Vikrant. However, the later duo was purchased from another country, and was finally scrapped.
Vikramaditya, a Russian made Goshkov is also an old ship, and is being used today. Recently, more than a couple of fire incidents had occurred on the same ship creating more worries for the defence. However, induction of Vikrant into the naval fleet is good news. Vikrant can handle one take-off every third minute and one landing per minute. For now, during the initial trials, MiG-29 were deployed on Vikrant.
Tejas the indigenous aircraft has been designed and built as per Navy’s requirement. The aircraft carrier being as big as two football stadiums, has increased our lunging capacity also. The recently purchased advanced Russian missile technology has been installed on this warship. It is known that more than Rs25,000 crores has been spent on this ship. It is also believed that the recently built warship can compete with Vikramaditya, having its base on western coast at Karwar port. If the latest warship is assigned with the task of protecting and guarding the eastern coast, it will most probably be anchored at the Navy’s Vishakhapatnam base.
Considering that China is trying to penetrate into the Indian subcontinent ocean, our country being surrounded by sea on their sides, would definitely require another aircraft carrier. Meanwhile, Vikrant has filled the void created after the withdrawal of Virat. The new floating city is 262 mts long, 62 mts broad, and displacement is 37,500 tonnes. The fact that 1600 Navy personnel will be on board the vessel, itself suggests the vastness of the ship. Approximately 80 MW power will be generated on this ship. One of the most important reasons to boast about this vehicle is that the international sea route is at a distance of 100 nautical miles from our coast. The international route for oil transport begins from there. Naval ships from many countries have begun to follow their oil tanker vessels, posing to protect and guard them from pirates. At times these navy vessels invade our boundaries, and test our vigilante. Hence, the need of aircraft carrier vessels to protect our boundaries.
The Indian Navy seeks three aircraft carriers, and with Vikrant and Vikramaditya in action, contemplating a third vessel is obvious. But since the third vessel may take time, the Navy has the uphill task of maintaining the Russian used vessel purchased by India. With the Make in India campaign discussed all over, the indigenous warship is all set to be a part of the naval fleet. It is time we welcome the aircraft carrier ship that has the capacity and responsibility to guard and protect our coastal boundaries.
