INS Vikrant: Delay in Russian equipment makes Indian Navy wait longer for indigenous aircraft carrier

The deadline for the delivery of the 37,500-tonne aircraft carrier into the Indian Navy was 2018.

INS Vikrant update: India’s wait for its first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant has been extended due to issues with the delivery of aviation equipment from Russia. This information was shared by Sripad Naik, the MoS for Defence in a written reply to in Rajya Sabha. The MoS for Defence further stated that the structural and technical works of the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant including starting of main propulsion machinery and trials of power generation machinery have been completed. The trials of other ship’s equipment and systems are presently in progress, the MoS further said.

The deadline for the delivery of the 37,500-tonne aircraft carrier into the Indian Navy was 2018. The aircraft carrier is likely to be inducted by 2022. The Indian Navy has made plans to upgrade its number of aircraft carriers to three from currently existing one– INS Vikramaditya which too is a ship of Russian origin.

According to Sripad Naik, the major structural and outfitting works of the ‘Make in India’ aircraft carrier have been completed. Major milestone activities such as starting of main propulsion machinery and trials of power generation machinery have also been completed. The ship is likely to start sea trials later this year. INS Vikrant has already completed the pre-contractors sea trials in December 2019. The ship will commence basin trials soon.

On the question of the effectiveness of Indian Navy’s current inventory for two aircraft carriers, MoS Defence Sripad Naik also said the Indian Navy acquires various ships, weapons and aircraft in accordance with the maritime capability perspective plan.

The INS Vikrant is being built by Cochin Shipyard Limited and it works on a similar mechanism to the existing aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya with an angular ski-jump.  As has been reported earlier by Financial Express Online, the ship is powered by four General Electric (GE) gas turbines and it will operate Russian origin Mig-29K fighters which also take off from INS Vikramaditya.