How India became part of an elite club of nations building aircraft carriers

India’s defence manufacturing capabilities have progressed significantly in recent years; one could say there has been a sea change in the nation’s abilities. And it is thanks to this progress that in September 2022, India commissioned the first indigenously designed and built aircraft carrier, Indian Naval Ship (INS) Vikrant.

At the time of commissioning the vessel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, “Vikrant is not just a warship. This is a testament to the hard work, talent, influence and commitment of India in the 21st century. If the goals are distant, the journeys are long, the ocean and the challenges are endless – then India’s answer is Vikrant. The incomparable Amrit of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav is Vikrant. Vikrant is a unique reflection of India becoming self-reliant.”

With INS Vikrant, India joined the league of capable of making huge aircraft carriers, only behind the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, China and Russia.

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We take a closer look at India rich history of aircraft carriers and how they have served the nation effectively.

The Vikrant era

The requirement of an aircraft carrier by the Indian Navy was felt ever since her initial years. And it was this requirement that saw INS Vikrant being launched on 22 September 1945 as Hercules. However, its construction was stalled and was completed when India purchased it from Britain in 1957.

As per an Indian Express report, INS Vikrant was commissioned on 4 March 1961 with Captain P S Mahindroo as her first CO.

In the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, INS Vikrant played a stellar role despite many doubts that were raised about its seaworthiness ahead of the battle.

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As Captain Hiranandani later recalled telling Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda: “During the 1965 war, Vikrant was sitting in Bombay Harbour and did not go out to sea. If the same thing happened in 1971, Vikrant would be called a white elephant and naval aviation would be written off. Vikrant had to be seen operational if we didn’t fly an aircraft.”

As per reports, in just 10 days, over 300 strike sorties were flown from Vikrant. The warship had exceeded expectations.

As one record said that the INS Vikrant helped in preventing reinforcement of Pakistani forces from the sea, leading to the birth of Bangladesh.

In the following years, the war vessel underwent major re-hauling. However, after years of wear and tear, INS Vikrant was decommissioned in 1997. It served as a museum and was patronised by thousands of curious people, especially youth and students, as she lay anchored off Mumbai Harbour.

Maintenance and upkeep costs became overwhelming and after many hiccups and legal battles, she was finally sold as scrap for Rs 60 crore to IB Commercials Pvt Ltd in November 2014 after a glorious history of 71 years.

The INS Viraat

INS Viraat was originally commissioned by the British Royal Navy as HMS Hermes on 18 November 1959. She served as the flagship of the Royal Navy’s task force during the Falklands War in 1982. She was decommissioned in 1985. Hermes was thereafter towed from Portsmouth Dockyard to Devonport Dockyard to be refitted and sold to India for $465 million.

The aircraft carrier was then commissioned into the Indian Navy on 12 May 1987. The conventional Centaur class aircraft carrier, whose name meant “giant” in Sanskrit, had a staff of 1,500 members on board. Its motto was (in Sanskrit) — “Jalamev Yasya Balmev Tasya” (One who controls the sea is all powerful).

The INS Viraat was 227 metres long and 49 metres wide and had a full load displacement of 28,700 tonnes.

INS Viraat first saw action in in Operation Jupiter in 1989 during the Indo-Sri Lanka strife by sending peacekeeping forces to Sri Lanka, post which she was affiliated with the Garhwal Rifles and Scouts of the Indian Army in 1990.

INS Viraat also played a substantial role in blockading Pakistani ports, primarily the Karachi port as part of 1999’s Operation Vijay. Viraat then saw action in Operation Parakram that took place in 2001-2002, following the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament.

Nicknamed the Grand Old Lady, this ship has participated in various international joint exercises like in Malabar with the US Navy, Varuna with the French Navy, Naseem-ul-Bahr with the Omani Navy, and was an important part of the annual Theatre Level Operation Exercise (TROPEX) in 2014.

The illustrious era of the INS Viraat came to an end when it was decommissioned by the Indian Navy in March 2017.

At the time of its decommissioning in March 2017, the Navy had said, “Under the Indian Flag, the ship has clocked more than 22,622 flying hours by various aircraft and spent nearly 2252 days at sea sailing across 5,88,287 nautical miles or 10,94,215 kilometres. This implies that Viraat has spent seven years at sea, circumnavigating the globe 27 times. Since her inception, she has had a total of 80,715 hours of boilers running. INS Viraat had been commanded by 22 captains since 1987.

In September 2020, it was towed to Alang in Gujarat where it was broken down and sold as scrap.

Earlier, there had been plans and even some movements by the state governments of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh governments towards preserving the historic carrier and converting it into a museum. There were also crowdfunding efforts towards the same goal, which were unsuccessful.

However, after not receiving any concrete bid towards preservation, the Centre decided to auction the ship to be broken and sold as scrap.

Ahoy there, INS Vikramaditya

In November 2013, the INS Vikramaditya, Russia’s refurbished Admiral Gorshkov, was commissioned into the Indian Navy.

Launched in the early 1980s, the carrier, which was originally named as Baku, served the Soviet Navy from 1987 to 1991. The vessel was decommissioned in 1996, after spending four years with the Russian Navy as a carrier named as Admiral Gorshkov. Since then, the government of India had started negotiations with Russia to acquire Admiral Gorshkov.

And, in the year 2004, a very important naval accord was struck between long time military allies India and Russia to make the aircraft carrier part of the Indian Navy.

With a displacement of 45,000 tonnes, the warship is capable of carrying over 30 aircraft and helicopters. Featuring a total of 22 decks, the carrier has the capacity to accommodate more than 1,600 personnel on board, including officers and sailors.

Today, she is considered as a force to reckon with in the Indian Ocean Region.

INS Vikramaditya is also the first ever warship to have an ATM on board. The vessel houses an ATM, which is operating through a satellite link, of State Bank of India to save time and resources.

In June 2016, INS Vikramaditya reportedly met with an accident while undergoing a scheduled major refit at Karwar naval base. A sailor and a civilian worker was killed due to a toxic gas leak that happened during maintenance work in the Sewage Treatment Plant compartment of the warship.

The rebirth of INS Vikrant

While India can boast of having three Indian aircraft carriers, it was only in 2022 that the country designed and built its own aircraft carrier — the INS Vikrant .

Built at a cost of Rs 19,500 crore or $2.5 billion, the INS Vikrant is 262-metre-long and 62-metre-wide with a displacement of over 40,000 tonnes.

Analysts have also praised the vessel for its potential firepower. The aircraft carrier has the capacity of operating 30 aircraft comprising of MIG-29K fighter jets, Kamov-31, MH-60R multi-role helicopters, in addition to indigenously manufactured Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) and Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) (Navy).

It is powered by four gas turbine engines and can attain a top speed of 32 mph (52 kph) with a range of 8,600 miles (13,890 kilometres).

And following the success of the INS Vikrant, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar in September last year announced that the Navy is looking at a repeat order for an Indigenous Aircraft Carrier. “We are working for a third aircraft carrier which will be a repeat of the INS Vikrant. There is a lot of expertise that has been generated in terms of building an aircraft carrier. We are looking at having an IAC, a follow-on I would say, a repeat order being made. We are preparing a case for it,” Admiral Kumar had then said.

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With inputs from agencies