Warship INS Vikramaditya inducted into Indian Navy

Super Aircraft Carrier INS Vikramaditya

New Delhi (TNP) - Defence minister AK Antony on Saturday commissioned the $2.33-billion Russian-made aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya (formerly Admiral Gorshkov), into the Indian Navy at Severodvinsk in Russia, almost 20 years after the country began negotiations to buy the warship.

Antony said Vikramaditya would significantly enhance the reach and capability of the Indian Navy, which currently operates only one aircraft carrier, INS Viraat, a second-hand British warship inducted in 1987.

Speaking at the Sevmash shipyard where the ceremony was held amid snowfall, he said, “The induction of Vikramaditya with its integral MiG-29K fighters and Kamov-31 helicopters adds a new dimension to our navy’s operational capabilities.”

Antony said the warship’s name — meaning strong as the sun— was complemented by its motto — strike Far, strike Sure.

Antony said the culmination of Project 11430, codename for the carrier project, symbolised the “special and privileged strategic partnership” between the two countries. “It has propelled the strategic partnership between our nations to a new level,” he said, calling the refurbishment of the warship “an engineering marvel.”

The Indian Navy has been in the business of operating carriers for decades. INS Vikrant, bought from UK, was commissioned as the navy’s first carrier in 1961. It was retired in 1997. Navy chief Admiral DK Joshi said Vikramaditya would bridge the time-gap that may come up between the retirement of INS Viraat and the induction of the indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant.

HERE ARE 10 FACTS ABOUT THE NAVY'S LARGEST WARSHIP:

1. Originally built as the Admiral Gorshkov in the Soviet Union, the super aircraft carrier has been refurbished. It weighs 40,000 tonnes and will be the biggest and heaviest ship to be operated by the Indian Navy.
2. India agreed to buy it in 2004 for $974 million. The cost kept shooting up. Russia delayed the delivery by over five years.
3. A fleet of warships will escort the INS Vikramaditya on its way from Russia to the Kochi naval yard. Once it reaches India, it is meant to be equipped with Israeli Barak missiles.
4. The INS Vikramaditya is 284 metres long and 60 metres high - that's about as high as a 20-storeyed building.
5. It can carry 24 MiG-29 fighter jets and 10 helicopters at a time, and can sail nearly 1300 kilometres a day.
6. It can operate for 45 days without replenishment and will be manned by about 1600 people. Just the crew is expected to use over one lakh eggs, 200,000 litres of milk and over 16 tonnes of rice every month.
7. India joins a select group of nations and the only one in the Indian Ocean region to operate two aircraft carriers at the same time. The only aircraft carrier currently in use - INS Viraat - is reaching the end of its useful service.
8. Till now, India was policing the Indian Ocean region from the Gulf of Malacca in south-east Asia to the Gulf of Aden in the north with just the INS Viraat. The addition of the INS Vikramaditya to India's fighting fleet is widely being projected as a game changer.
9. The new carrier joins the navy at a time when the Indian Ocean region is becoming a highly-militarised zone. Admiral Sekhar Sinha, Commander in Chief, Western Naval Command said, "A second carrier will immensely increase India's reach and ability to project force. We can now have a carrier each for the eastern and western seaboards of India."
10. India is also building its first indigenous aircraft carrier, the INS Vikrant, in Kochi, which is expected to join the navy in 2018-19.