Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make his maiden visit to a defence establishment on June 14 when he sails on aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya off the coast of Goa and dedicates the 44,500 ton Russian made ship worth over Rs15,000 crore to the nation. The ship is already operational and sailing in the Arabian Sea.
INS Vikramaditya is the newest and largest ship which joined the Indian Navy on November 16, 2013 when then Defence Minister AK Antony commissioned it into service in Russia. At present, India has two aircraft carriers — including INS Viraat and INS Vikramaditya.It is 284-metre long stretching as much as three football fields put together and standing about 20 storeys tall from keel to the highest point and has 22 decks. With over 1,600 personnel on board, Vikramaditya is literally a ‘floating city.’ In fact, it sailed non-stop for over 40 days from Russia to its base in Karwar in Karnataka after induction in November and is capable of sustaining itself for 45 days.
The ship is now fully operational with Indian pilots taking off and landing on it in their Russian-origin MIG 29-K naval combat aircraft. The ship will later have naval version Tejas light combat aircraft and is already flying helicopters.