Vikrant-class aircraft carrier

Class overview
INS Vikrant under construction.
Name:	Vikrant-class aircraft carrier
Builders:	Cochin Shipyard Limited
Operators:	Indian Navy
Preceded by:	INS Vikramaditya
In commission:	Expected 2018 (INS Vikrant)
Building:	1
Planned:	2
General characteristics
Type:	Aircraft carrier
Displacement:	INS Vikrant: 40,000 tonnes INS Vishal: 65,000 tonnes
Length:	262 metres (860 ft)
Beam:	60 metres (200 ft)
Draught:	8.4 metres (28 ft)
Depth:	25.6 metres (84 ft)
Decks:	2.5 acres (110,000 sq ft; 10,000 m²)
Propulsion:	4 General Electric LM2500+ gas turbines, 2 shafts 80+ MW
Speed:	28 kn (52 km/h)
Range:	8,000 nmi (15,000 km)
Complement:	1,400 (incl air crew)
Sensors and processing systems:	1 × Selex RAN-40L L-band early warning
Electronic warfare & decoys:	C/D band early air-warning radar
Armament:	4 × Otobreda 76 mm (3 in) dual purpose cannons Barak 1 & Barak 8 surface-to-air missile launchers (2 x 32 cells VLS) AK-630 CIWS
Aircraft carried:	INS Vikrant; Mikoyan MiG-29K Kamov Ka-31 Westland Sea King HAL Dhruv

The Vikrant class (Sanskrit: विक्रान्त) (formerly Project 71 Air Defence Ship (ADS) or Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC)) is a class of aircraft carrier being built for the Indian Navy. The class represents the largest warships and the first aircraft carriers to be designed and built in India. The lead ship of the class is also the first aircraft carrier designed and built in Asia featuring STOBAR and ski-jumps, and the first built to operate jet-powered aircraft.

Preparations for building the lead vessel of the class, INS Vikrant, started in 2008, and the keel was laid in February 2009. The carrier was floated out of its dry dock on 29 December 2011, and launched on 12 August 2013. The scale and complexity of the project caused problems which delayed the commencement and timeline of construction for the carrier. Technical difficulties, the cost of refitting the Russian-built carrier INS Vikramaditya, and billions in cost overruns have delayed plans for the first of the vessels to enter service, with completion now planned for 2023.

In 1989 India announced a plan to replace its ageing British-built aircraft carriers, Vikrant and Viraat, with two new 28,000 ton Air Defence Ships (ADS) that would operate the BAe Sea Harrier aircraft. The first vessel was to replace Vikrant, which was set to decommission in early 1997. Construction of the ADS was to start at the Cochin Shipyard (CSL) in 1993 after the Indian Naval Design Organisation had translated this design study into a production model. Following the 1991 economic crisis, the plans for construction of the vessels were put on hold indefinitely.

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