IT Correspondent,
Mumbai, Nov 1:
Progress of sea trials of indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) ‘Vikrant’ was reviewed by Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal during onboard visit at sea on Sunday.
The ship had sailed out for the second sea trials on 24 October. The maiden sea sortie of the ship was successfully undertaken in August this year, during which ship’s performance, including hull, main propulsion, PGD and auxiliary equipment was reported satisfactory.
After witnessing the sea trials, Sonowal impressed upon Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) to ensure timely delivery of the ship in Apr 2022 to realise commissioning of the ship by August 2022 to commemorate ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’(75 years of India’s independence.
The IAC designed by Indian Navy’s Directorate of Naval Design (DND) is being built at CSL, a Public Sector Shipyard under the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways.
The Indigenous design and construction of Aircraft Carrier by Indian Navy and CSL is an example of the country’s quest for Aatma Nirbhar Bharat(self-reliant India) and ‘Make in India’ initiative with over 76% indigenous content. This has led to growth in indigenous design and construction capabilities, besides development of large number of ancillary industries, with employment opportunities for over 2000 CSL personnel and about 12000 employees in ancillary industries.
Indigenous content towards procurement of equipment, besides work by CSL and their subcontractors is being directly invested back into the Indian economy. Around 550 Indian firms including about 100 Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are registered with CSL, who are providing various services for construction of IAC. With the delivery of IAC, India would join a select group of nations with the capability to indigenously design and build an Aircraft Carrier.
First missile destroyer delivered
In another development, the lead ship of Project 15B stealth guided missile destroyers-”Y 12704 (Visakhapatnam)”, being built at Mazgaon Docks Limited (MDL), was delivered to the Indian Navy on Thursday.
The contract for four ships of Project 15B, as the ”Visakhapatnam” class ships are known, was signed on January 28, 2011. This project is a follow-on of the Kolkata class (Project 15A) destroyers commissioned in the last decade.
Designed by Directorate of Naval Design, Indian Navy’s in-house design organisation and built by M/s Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd, Mumbai, the four ships are christened after major cities from all four corners of the country viz. “Visakhapatnam”, “Mormugao”, “Imphal” and “Surat”.
The keel of “Visakhapatnam” was laid in October 2013 and the ship was launched in April 2015. The design has largely maintained the hull form, propulsion machinery, many platform equipment and major weapons and sensors as the “Kolkata” class to benefit from series production.
The 163 metres long warship has a full load displacement of 7400 tonnes and maximum speed of 30 knots. The overall indigenous content of the project is approx. 75%. Apart from myriad indigenous equipment in the ‘Float’ and ‘Move’ categories, the destroyer is also installed with major indigenous weapons which include: Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missiles (BEL, Bangalore), BrahMos Surface-to-Surface Missiles (BrahMos Aerospace, New Delhi), Indigenous Torpedo Tube Launchers (Larsen & Toubro, Mumbai), Anti-Submarine Indigenous Rocket Launchers (Larsen & Toubro, Mumbai) and 76mm Super Rapid Gun Mount (BHEL, Haridwar).
