India joins club of nations capable of building warships

Kochi, Feb 28 (PTI) India Saturday 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 in southern state of Kerala.

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 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. PTI