Prasun K. Sengupta

With the inking of the D-448 certificate on July 28, the ministry of defence-owned Cochin Shipyard Ltd’s (CSL) chairman and managing director Madhu S. Nair delivered the Indian Navy’s (IN) first indigenously built aircraft carrier (IAC-1)—the Vikrant to Commodore Vidyadhar Harke, commanding officer designate of the vessel. With this, the decks have been cleared for the IAC-1 to be commissioned into service as INS Vikrant R-11 by Prime Minister Narendra D Modi.

INS Vikrant

Designed by the Directorate of Naval Design of the Indian Navy (IN) under Project 71, the 37,500-tonne IAC-1’s construction at a cost of Rs 3,261 crore was sanctioned by India’s Cabinet Committee on National Security (CCNS) in January 2003. However, metal-cutting commenced only in November 2006, while the keel-laying was done on 28 February 2009 at CSL, such delays being the result of Russia’s inability to supply the steel and the subsequent two-year timeframe for the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Defence Metallurgical Research Lab (DMRL) to come up with indigenous DMR-249A/DMR-249B steel.

The 262-metre-long, 62-metre wide, 8.4-metre draught and 59-metre high vessel was launched on 12 August 2013 in a pontoon-assisted technique, in a first in India, when limited dock space prevented further construction. CSL made a special jig to move the 104-tonne ‘A bracket’ that buttresses the propeller shafts—as long as 99 metres and 69 metres—on the aircraft carrier’s hull. It was then envisaged that the IAC-1 would be delivered to the IN by December 2018, followed by service-induction in October 2020. The three-year delay happened due to non-availability of 18 types of major equipment related to the IAC-1’s on-board Nevskoye Design Bureau-designed aviation hanger from Russia. This in turn led to a 600 per cent project cost overrun, or Rs 19,341 crore, and ultimately to Rs 23,000 crores.

In addition, contrary to the Integrated hull-outf