New Delhi: The Indian Navy has inducted India’s indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant into its Western Fleet, marking the beginning of its operational deployment.
The aircraft carrier, which was commissioned into the navy in September 2022, will be based out of INS Kadamba, which is an integrated strategic naval base situated near Karwar in Karnataka on India’s western coast.
“INS Vikrant, India’s indigenous aircraft carrier, joined the Western Fleet in a significant enhancement to the maritime power and reach of the Indian Navy’s ‘Sword Arm’,” the Western Naval Command said in a post on social media platform ‘X’.
It added the Carrier Battle Group led by INS Vikramaditya, India’s other aircraft carrier, inducted INS Vikrant with a multi-domain exercise and twin carrier fighter operations in the Arabian Sea.
A carrier battle group has several destroyers, frigates, corvettes, offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) and submarines of the Western Fleet that operate together. Kolkata class destroyers and Talwar class frigates are part of the INS Vikramaditya-led carrier battle group.
With the integration of the deck-based fighter jets MiG-29K now complete, Vikrant has now an overall capability to carry 30 helicopters and fixed-wing fighters. The aircraft carrier is armed with Barak-8 missiles.
Designed by the Indian Navy’s inhouse Directorate of Naval Design (DND) and built by CSL, the indigenous aircraft is 262 metres long and has a displacement of 45,000 tonnes.
INS Vikrant was undergoing “guarantee refit” at Cochin Shipyard Limited in Kochi. After the completion of the refit trials, the carrier joined the Western Fleet. It will now provide the aviation component of a carrier battle group along with INS Vikramaditya.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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