The Vikrant class (formerly Project 71 Air Defence Ship (ADS) or Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC)) is a class of aircraft carrier being built for the Indian Navy. The class represents the largest warships and the first aircraft carriers to be designed and built in India. The lead ship of the class is also the first aircraft carrier designed and built in Asia featuring STOBAR and ski-jumps, and the first built to operate jet-powered aircraft.
INS Vikrant (IAC-I) is the first aircraft carrier built in India and the first Vikrant-class aircraft carrier built by Cochin Shipyard (CSL) in Kochi, Kerala for the Indian Navy. The motto of the ship is Jayema Sam Yudhi Sprdhah, which is taken from Rig Veda 1.8.3 and is translated as "I defeat those who fight against me".
Work on the ship's design began in 1999, and the keel was laid by Defence Minister A.K. Antony in February 2009. The carrier was floated out of its dry dock on 29 December 2011 and was launched in 2013.
As of 2016, the ship is being fitted out, expected to be completed by 2023 according to the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG), though the Navy still hopes to partially commission the ship in late 2018. The project cost has escalated dramatically to ₹19,341 crore (US$3.0 billion) as of 2014.
Design:
INS Vikrant is the first ship of the Vikrant class of aircraft carriers. The name Vikrant (Sanskrit vikrānta, literally "stepping beyond") means "courageous" or "bold".
It is 262 metres (860 ft) long and 60 metres (200 ft) wide, and displaces about 40,000 metric tons (39,000 long tons). It features a Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery (STOBAR) configuration with a ski-jump.
The deck is designed to enable aircraft such as the MiG-29K to operate from the carrier.
It is expected to carry an air group of up to thirty aircraft, which will include up to 24–26 fixed-wing combat aircraft, primarily the Mikoyan MiG-29K . The naval variant of the HAL Tejas was rejected by the navy on Dec 2, 2016 for being overweight. Besides carrying 10 Kamov Ka-31 or Westland Sea King helicopters. The Ka-31 will fulfill the airborne early warning (AEW) role and the Sea King will provide anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capability.
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.
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