|
| India joins elite club of warship-building nations |
| Press Trust of India / Kochi Feb 28, 2009, 12:59 IST |
|
India today joined an elite club of nations capable of building large warships, with the keeling of the indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) at the Cochin Shipyard here.
Defence Minister A K Antony pressed a remote following which the keel was placed in the building dock of the shipyard.
"This indigenous warship of the Navy will showcase India's technical prowess and warship building capabilities to the world," he said, adding "IAC will be the largest-ever warship to be built in India".
Apart from India, only the US, France and Russia have the capability to build warships of 40,000 tonnage capacity.
Started in 2002 with the designing of the IAC, the project gained steam in 2006 when the construction of the warship building blocks began.
The aircraft carrier, designed by Navy's Design Organisation and being built at the Cochin Shipyard Ltd. (CSL), would be capable of operating an aircraft mix of Russian MiG-29K, Ka31 and indigenous light combat aircraft (LCA).
Antony said the Centre is deeply committed to sustain and support a vibrant ship building industry including the involvement of the private sector. The onus lies squarely on all the players in the ship building industry to work together as partners instead of being competitors, he said.
The ship has a length of 260 metres and a maximum breadth of 60 metres. It will be propelled by two shafts, each coupled to two LM2500 gas turbines developing a total power of 80 MW, sufficient to attain speeds in excess of 28 knots.
The vessel, which can accommodate at least 30 aircraft, will have two takeoff runways and a landing strip with three arrester wires.
The yard commenced the steel cutting for this project in April 2005 and has achieved the keel laying as per schedule.
Naval chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta was among those present on the occasion.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Read Business news in |  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Advertisements |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Content Guide
