Keel Laying of Indigenous Aircraft Carrier for Indian Navy
Keel laying of Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC), one of the major milestones in Indian shipbuilding, is scheduled on 28 Feb 09.
The design and construction of Indigenous Aircraft Carrier was sanctioned by the Govt. of India in Jan 2003.
With this project, India has become the 4th nation to join the select club of 40,000-tonne plus aircraft carrier designers and builders. The carrier will be armed with surface-to-air missiles, latest radar and an array of other combat systems from Israel, France and Russia, naval officials said. The ship has a length of 260 meters and max breadth of 60 meters. The ship will be propelled by two shafts, each coupled to two gas turbines, sufficient to attain speeds in excess of 28 knots. The ship has an endurance of around 8,000 nautical miles and complement of 1,600. The ship will have two takeoff runways and a landing strip with 3 arrester wires. It can carry a maximum of 30 aircraft with adequate hangar capacity. The carrier is designed with a very high degree of automation for machinery operation, ship navigation and survivability.
The production of Indigenous Aircraft Carrier commenced in Nov 06 and large numbers of blocks have already been fabricated, which are under erection. Major equipment to be installed in lower decks of the ship has been ordered. The ship is being constructed using high strength steel developed in-house
India currently has only one operational carrier – the INS Viraat – after scrapping its first, INS Vikrant, in 1997 after more than 35 years service. Viraat is scheduled to be phased out soon.
The South Asian country has been involved in a long-running wrangle with Moscow over a 2004 deal to buy a refurbished Soviet-era carrier, the Admiral Gorshkov. The original price for the refit was 970 million dollars, but Russia later demanded an additional US$1.2 billion (S$1.84 billion). The two sides eventually settled for an extra US$900 million, but the carrier has yet to be delivered and the latest reports suggest the Russian export firm Rosoboronexport wanted to increase the price tag again.
The 137 ship Indian Navy is in expansion mode and has new warships from the US navy and submarines from France.
