New Delhi: After commissioning the first indigenous aircraft carrier ‘INS Vikrant’ at Kochi shipyard on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing the audience at the event, said, “From the seashores of Kerala, every Indian is becoming a witness today to the sunrise of a new future. This ceremony on ‘INS Vikrant’ is a call for the strengthening morale of India on a global horizon.”
“Vikrant is large and grand, Vikrant is distinct, Vikrant is special. Vikrant is not just a warship, it is evidence of the hard work, talent, impact and commitment of India of the 21st century,” he added.
Indeed, manufacturers and workers from the length and breadth of the country have contributed to the making of ‘INS Vikrant’. Around 76 per cent of the ship has been built with indigenous materials and components from major Indian manufacturers and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
The steel used in the warship came from SAIL’s plants in Rourkela in Odisha, Bokaro in Jharkhand and Bhilai in Chhattisgarh.
SAIL supplied 30,000 tonnes of DMR grade specialty steel for the warship. DMR plates of Grade 249 A were used for the hull and vessel interiors and Grade 249 B for the flight deck. The entire quantity of specialty steel, except for the bulb bars, has been supplied by SAIL’s integrated steel plants at Bhilai, Bokaro and Rourkela, doing away with imports.
Larsen & Toubro’s plants in Mumbai and Pune provided the main switch board, steering gear and watertight hatches. The air-conditioning and refrigeration systems are from Kirloskar Group’s plants in Pune. Several of the ship’s pumps have been supplied by Best & Crompton, Chennai.
Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has built the Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS). The warship’s massive gearbox has been manufactured by Elecon in Gujarat.
Kolkata’s Nicco Group has supplied the electrical cables running hundreds of kilometres.
The warship has been built at an approximate cost of Rs 20,000 crore.
