India launches first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant: All you need to know

India launched its first indigenousaircraft carrierINS Vikrant today. It is the biggest warship to be built by India and will also mark India’s entry into a select club of countries capable of designing and building a carrier of this size.

The launch of INS Vikrant has raised hackles inChina, with Chinese defence experts saying the aircraft carrier would have great significance forIndiaas it would allow the Indian Navy to wade into the Pacific Ocean - whichBeijingconsiders as its backyard.

Here are 10 things you may not have known about INS Vikrant:

• Its flight deck is over twice the size of a football field, its power unit can light up Kochi city and the cabling is enough to cover the distance between here to Delhi.

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• Built at Cochin Shipyard Limited, the carrier is expected to be the centrepiece of Indian Navy’s power in the coming years and will be equipped with modern weapons systems including long range surface-to-air missiles (LR SAM) and close-in weapons system (CIWS).

• The aircraft carrier was be launched into water by Elizabeth Antony, wife of Defence Minister AK Antony. It will be redocked for erecting the island superstructure (for flight control systems) above its flight deck and the remaining underwater work.

• The indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), MiG-29K combat jets and a range of helicopters will be deployed on the carrier.IAC can deploy over 30 aircraft and helicopters.

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• The ship is 260 metres in length and 60 metres in breadth and can attain speeds in excess of 28 knots (56 km per hour), said Commodore Saibal Sen, additional principal director, Naval Design.“There will be about 2,500 km of power cabling and 1,000 km of other cabling and it will have power generation capacity of 24 MW which must be the peak power load of Cochin city,” Sen told IANS.

• INS Vikrant will have approximate displacement (weight) of 18,500 tonnes at its launch.

• The carrier is expected to be delivered to the navy by the end of 2018.

• Approximately 90 percent of the aircraft carrier’s massive hull was built indigenously with SAIL supplying high quality steel, reports Times of India.

• Navy officials said India will be the fifth country after the US, Russia, Britain and France to have the capacity to design and build aircraft carriers of 40,000 tonnes and above.

• Officials said that Navy plans to have three aircraft carriers, one each for the seas along eastern and western coasts while the third undergoes maintenance.