image: indiatoday.iin
Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioned India's first domestically built aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, in Kochi.
image : enewsinsight.com
The Prime Minister commissioned carrier built at a cost of Rs 20000 crore at an event held at Cochin Shipyard Limited.
The ship is 262 m (860 ft) long and about 60 m (197 ft) wide and is the first aircraft carrier designed and built by India itself. It can carry 30 fighter planes and helicopters.
iamge : livemint.com
This warship can accommodate a crew of approximately 1,600. Named after its predecessor who played a key role in the 1971 war with Pakistan to liberate Bangladesh
India has entered the list of countries that can build such large warships indigenously. Vikrant has infused new confidence
"Our flight deck size is nearly 12,500sqm - almost as big as two-and-a-half hockey fields - and we can operate 12 fighter planes and six helicopters at once," said Lieutenant-Commander Siddharth Soni, the flight deck officer.
The shipyard is now investing in a new dock - to be ready by 2024 - to build India's next aircraft carrier, Mr Nair says.