India begins aircraft carrier construction, to go in for more

Joining an elite club of nations capable of building large warships, India on Saturday, began the construction of its first indigenous aircraft carrier at the Cochin Shipyard here and will go in for 2 to 3 more carriers in the heavier class.

Pressing a remote to lower the keel - the ship's backbone - into the construction dock of the shipyard, defence minister AK Antony said, "The Navy's carrier will showcase India's technological prowess and warships' building capabilities to the world. It will be the largest ever warship to be built in India."

The 40,000-tonne carrier will operate nearly 30 aircraft including the Russian MiG-29Ks fighters, Kamov-31 helicopters
and the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

"This is a crucial milestone and an occasion to cherish in the shipbuilding traditions and maritime history of the nation. The culmination of this prestigious project, sometime in 2014, will transform India into an aircraft-building nation," Antony said.

He said that India will certainly produce more indigenous aircraft carrier, but in the heavier class category to meet the future challenges and needs of maritime security. "We hope to operate two to three aircraft carriers simultaneously in the not too distant future," Antony said.

"Our ever expanding maritime responsibilities require enhanced 'blue water' capabilities and to achieve this, integral air cover is a must. Our navy is one of the few carrier-operating navies worldwide," Antony said.

Among the naval powers of the world, only the US, Russia, France and the UK have carrier building capability. Even out of these four, UK is yet to build a carrier with a 40,000 tonne displacement.

India already possesses an aircraft carrier in the 29,000-tonne class, the INS Viraat bought from the British navy and it has seen 50 years of cumulative naval service. The 45,000-tonne Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier was purchased from Russia in 2004 and has been re-christened as INS Vikramaditya and is likely to join Indian Navy in 2012 after repair and refit in the Russian shipyard Sevmash.

The uncertainty, conflict and threats from maritime terrorism, piracy, narcotics, smuggling and low-intensity conflict were perpetrated by both state and non-state actors, he said, adding "the security of the sea lanes and offshore infrastructure will have to be ensured for sustainable development".

Designed by the Navy's Design Organisation since January 2003 after the government sanction came, the project had gained stream in 2006 when the construction of the warships' building blocks began.

The shipyard has already completed about 8,100 tonne of work with steel, developed by DRDO and produced by SAIL.

"The Project-71, as the integrated aircraft carrier is called in the Navy parlance, was initially sanctioned Rs 3,260 crore by the government, but the project cost was likely to increase as the warship construction progressed," Cochin Shipyard's (CSL) Chairman and Managing Director Commodore (retired) M Jitendran told reporters earlier in the day.

Jitendran said the CSL had already built around 400 blocks of the total 874 blocks that would form the fully constructed carrier when it would be delivered in 2014.

He said the Navy and the CSL had jointly designed the carrier, but taken help from Russia's NBD for the aviation aspects of the warship and Italy's Fincantieri for the propulsion system integration.

Asked about the carrier's contract, Jitendran said they were expected to complete work on the warship by December 2010 and launch it into the water, but the delivery would take place on schedule in the middle of the next decade.

On plans for construction of heavier aircraft carrier in the future, he said the CSL currently did not possess the construction dock to build warships heavier than 40,000 tonnes, but if the government intended to give it the orders, expanding the shipyard was possible.

Regarding follow-on orders for the carrier, Jitendran said the shipyard would be ready to take up the construction of the second carrier, if the design was retained by the Navy, in another year-and-half. But, he said, the design for the future carrier was likely to undergo a change.

To be fitted with two 2,500 horsepower LM2500 gas turbine propellers gaining a total of 80 megawatt power, the carrier would touch 28 knots speeds and have an endurance of around 8,000 nautical miles and complement of 1,600 nautical miles.

Its overall length would be 260 metres. The warship would be 26 metres in height and would be 14-storied, including the
flight control tower.

The warship would have two take-off runways and a landing strip with three arrestor wires. INS Viraat, on the other hand, has a ski-jump takeoff, but vertical landing by the Sea Harrier fighter aircraft.

It would carry Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile system with Multi-Function Radar (MFR) and Close-In Weapon System (CIWS), apart from Early Air Warning Radar, Tactical Navigational and Direction Finding systems.

It would also have Electro Magnetic environment, along with Carrier Control Approach Radars to aid air operations.