INS Vikrant () is an aircraft carrier in service with Indian Navy. The carrier is the first to be built in India and was constructed by the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) in Kochi, Kerala. The namesake Vikrant is a tribute to India's first aircraft carrier INS Vikrant (1961). Vikrant means "courageous" in Sanskrit. The motto of the ship, "जयेम सं युधिस्पृधः" (Sanskrit), means "I defeat those who fight against me" (English).
Work on the ship's design began in 1999. The keel was laid in 2009. The carrier was floated out of dry dock in December 2011 and launched in August 2013. Basin trials were completed in December 2020, and sea trials started in August 2021. Its commissioning ceremony was held on 2 September 2022. Aircraft flight trials will be completed in 2023. The total cost of the project is approximately at the time of first sea trials.
Vikrant's air group can consist up to 26 Rafale M fighters and up to 4 Kamov Ka-31, or 2 HAL Dhruv NUH or 4 MH-60R helicopters. It is in length, with a top speed of , and endurance of . The ship has 2,300 compartments manned by 1,700 seamen. It has a hospital complex, cabins for female officers, of corridors, and eight generators capable of lighting up a city of 2 million people.
Background
In 1999, Defence Minister George Fernandes authorised the development and construction of an aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, under the Project 71 Air Defence Ship (ADS). By that time, given the ageing Sea Harrier fleet, the letter of intent called for a carrier that would carry more modern jet fighters. In 2001, Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) released a graphic illustration showing a STOBAR (Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery) design with a pronounced ski jump.
The aircraft carrier project received formal government approval in January 2003. By then, design updates called for a carrier to operate the Mikoyan MiG-29K. India opted for a three-carrier fleet consisting of one carrier battle group stationed on each seaboard, and a third carrier held in reserve, in order to continuously protect both its flanks, to protect economic interests and mercantile traffic, and to provide humanitarian platforms in times of disasters, since a carrier can provide a self-generating supply of fresh water, medical assistance or engineering expertise to populations in need for assistance.
In August 2006, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Arun Prakash stated that the designation for the vessel had been changed from Air Defence Ship (ADS) to Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC). The euphemistic ADS had been adopted in planning stages to ward off concerns about a naval build-up. Final revisions to the design increased the displacement of the carrier from 37,500 tons to over 45,000 tons. The length of the ship increased from to .
Design
INS Vikrant is long and wide, and displaces about . It features a STOBAR configuration. It can carry an air group of up to thirty-six aircraft, including 26 fixed-wing combat aircraft, and a mix of Dhruv MK-III, Sikorsky MH-60R and Kamov Ka-31 helicopters. The Ka-31 will fulfil the airborne early warning (AEW) role, MH-60R will provide anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities, and Dhruv will be used mainly for search and rescue operations.
Vikrant is powered by four General Electric LM2500+ gas turbines on two shafts, generating over 80 megawatts (110,000 hp) of power. The gearboxes for the carriers were designed and supplied by Elecon Engineering.
The ship's combat management system (CMS) was developed by Tata Advanced Systems. It is the first CMS developed by a private company for the Indian Navy and was handed over to the Navy on 28 March 2019.
Carrier air group
Earlier, the Indian Navy considered fielding MiG-29K, and LCA Navy on Vikrant. At the same time, in 2009, the then navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma hinted that the Navy was carrying out a concept study for a more capable naval fighter, which turned out to be the HAL TEDBF, unveiled at 2021 Aero India airshow. In June 2012, Flight Global reported that the Indian Navy was considering the purchase of Dassault Rafale M (Naval variant) for Vikrant. The Rafale was by then declared the winner of IAF's MMRCA competition.
In 2016, the Navy announced that the Tejas was overweight for carrier operations, and other alternatives would be looked at. In 2017, a request for proposal was issued for 57 "Multi-Role Carrier Borne Fighters", which was later cut down to 26 fighters act as a stop gap measure until the TEDBF is developed. In December 2020, Boeing Defense, Space & Security, in coordination with the United States Navy, demonstrated F/A-18E/F Super hornet's capability to operate from STOBAR carrier.