Cavalier India Defence Training Academy

INS Viraat is the second aircraft carrier to be broken in India in the last six years. In 2014, INS Vikrant, which played a crucial role in the 1971 Indo-Pak war, was dismantled in Mumbai. As Sunday brings another high tide, INS Viraat will be winched closer to the shore in Alang, speeding up the breaking of the iconic aircraft carrier. For a week now, dismantling of the carrier has been on at the Alang ship-breaking yard in Bhavnagar, with over 250 workers starting work from the ‘ski jump’, or the curved ramp, side, from where aircraft used to take off from the ship. “About 5 per cent of the ship has already been broken,” said Mukesh Patel, Chairman of the Shree Ram Group which bought INS Viraat as scrap. Patel added that they had started the dismantling as the weight of the 28,223 ton-carrier has to be lessened before it can be pulled closer. “The ship is about 600 feet away from the shore right now,” he said. While INS Viraat arrived at Alang about two months ago, officials of the G...

The newly-built INS Vikrant undocking, 2015 (Indian Navy) The Indian military is undergoing what may be its most significant reorganisation since India’s independence, with considerable implications for its future strategic posture. One important issue that has been brought to the fore is the role of the Indian Navy as a regional power projection force built around three aircraft carriers. The government’s decision on this issue will have significant implications for the region. The Indian Navy currently operates one carrier, the 45,000 tonne INS Vikramaditya, with a second, the 37,500 tonne INS Vikrant, having just entered sea trials. Both are “ski-jump” carriers. But the Indian Navy regards a third “flat-topped” aircraft carrier, the planned 65,000 tonne INS Vishal, with superior power projection capabilities, as an absolute necessity. The navy’s plans for a three-carrier based force structure, first proposed in early 2000s, has been accepted in principle. It would allow the navy to ...

Basin trials are conducted for proving of the propulsion, transmission and shafting systems which can be tested only out of waters. Basin Trials will be followed by the Sea Trials by end 2020, as per the sources. (File Photo | AFP) Major endeavour to manufacture Aircraft Carrier is heading for an important phase as the first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC), INS Vikrant, is set to begin testing in waters (Basin Test) with its systems and equipment fitted. Sources in Navy confirmed to The New Indian Express that, “Harbour Trials have finished. The Basin Trials are planned for September.” Basin trials are conducted for proving of the propulsion (move), transmission (electricity) and shafting systems which can be tested only out of waters. India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant completes harbour trials https://t.co/JcnQt4Z8jm — Naval News (@navalnewsnet) August 25, 2020 It will be followed with sea trials by end of this year and IAC is expected to be inducted in...