India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier, which will be named INS Vikrant, begins sea trials

The first indigenously designed and built aircraft carrier of India, which will be named INS Vikrant once commissioned, Wednesday began its sea trials off the coast of Kochi. (Source: PR, Defence)

The landmark achievement will put India in the list of only a few countries that have the capacity to manufacture aircraft carriers. (Source: PR, Defence)

The Navy also dubbed the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) as the “largest and most complex warship ever to be designed and built in India”.

The keep of the 40,000-tonne warship was laid in February 2009 and was floated out at the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), which has built it, in December 2011.

The basin trials were completed in November 2020. The project cost nearly Rs 23,000 crore.