After 200 years of British rule India saw the rising sun of independence on 15th August, 1947. The Indians enjoyed the freedom after a very long struggle, bloodshed, revolts, movements, battles, and suppression. These humiliations were very common in the modern Indian history, which comprises of the Indian British era.
After the attainment of independence, the biggest challenge standing in front of the newly born country was to protect its sovereignty from internal and external aggression. Protecting the boundaries of the country will not suffice. The country needed adequate arms and other technologies to support their forces.
Therefore, India has been investing in developing and strengthening its armed forces and has achieved great heights in this process. Under the enumerate developments, one of the most gigantic achievement is the INS Vikramaditya, which belongs to the Indian Naval Forces.
The country is surrounded by water bodies from three sides; therefore, it needs to secure its borders and the area covered the 12 nautical miles. In the process of up gradation and advancement, keeping in mind the needs of the developing country, the country has replaced obsolete technologies with the modern ones. One of such switch over was replacing the INS Viraat aircraft carrier with INS Vikramaditya.
INS Vikramaditya is the new name for Admiral Gorshkov. The giant water carrier was given the name of the legendary emperor of Ujjain, Raja Vikramaditya. It is a Sanskrit word which means ‘as brave as the sun’. The name of the carrier describes all the qualities possessed by it. INS Vikramaditya originally belonged to the former Soviet Union, which was built at the Nikolayev South shipyard, primarily to support the Russian Navy.
India and Soviet Union stand together on many bilateral agreements specifically in the field of defense and security, one of such agreement resulted in the sale of this gigantic carrier. After the post war period, when the Soviet union disintegrated, Russia faced difficulty in maintaining the expenses of the aircraft carrier. Thus, this carrier was decommissioned by Russia.
In 2004, a naval accord took place between the two countries. The accord not only supported the sale of the vessel, but it also contained the provisions for equipping the carrier with modern technology. According to the deal, initially, India was suppose to pay US Dollar 1 billion for the purchase and US Dollar 800 million for the re-equipment of the carrier which was to be delivered to India by 2008.
But, due to some issues the delivery could only be made by 2013 and India was forced to pay an additional amount of US Dollar 1.2 billion for the aircraft carrier. The modified Kiev class aircraft carrier was welcomed in India in the year 2013, which was formally introduced by the Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi. It was commissioned by the Defence Minister Shri AK Anthony in Russia. The carrier was fully transformed to suit the Indian waters and help the naval planes to reach the skies.
India is very alert about the activities taking place within Indian waters. Since a long time, Chinese activities in the sea have increased. INS Vikramaditya will help the Indian Navy to counter the Chinese ill thoughts. It has added higher level of strength to the oceans of India.
INS Vikramaditya has been furnished with helicopters, fighter jets, missiles and submarines which are self reliant to counter the actions of the enemy nations. The Indians will be secured from enemy forces. The carrier has the capacity to carry the fighter planes which can destroy the enemies even before they can enter the Indian ships and border.
This creates an apprehension of destruction within the hearts of enemies. In the world of technology, every other country is aware of the equipments and the power the other country possess. This knowledge is helpful in deterrence. The presence of INS Vikramaditya will deter the enemy nations from initiating any action against the country.
As according to the design of the carrier, the length of the carrier is about 284 meters and the beam length of about 60 meters. It has the speed to cover 30 knots with 4 propellers which are powered by 8 boilers.
These boilers has the power to produce a combined thrust of 1,80,000 shaft horsepower. These boilers are of the latest technology and have great level of automation. The carrier has the capacity to carry around 30 aircrafts and helicopters which includes MiG 29K. Kamov 31, Kamov 28, Seaking, ALH, Chetak. It expands as wide as three football fields joined together.
These Kamov helicopters are anti submarine helicopters provides the Indian navy an advantage against the sub marines which cannot fire back on helicopters. The giant ship held its head high with a height of 20 storeys with 22 decks. The entire structure of the carrier is eye catching and an Indian would definitely feel pound after seeing this enormous structure.
The carrier has the displacement of 45,000 tonnes, which can accommodate around 1,600 people on the board, which shall include officers and sailors both. The carrier has the capacity of 8,000 tonnes of Low Sulphur Heavy Stock Diesel (LSHSD) which enables it to perform efficiently to an extent of about 13000 km.
It is loaded with six turbo alteration and six diesel alterations on the board which provides the carrier with 18 megawatts of electricity for fulfilling its electricity requirements and its operations. INS Vikramaditya can be termed as a city over the ocean because of its accommodation capacity along with the storage strength. It can store up to one lakh eggs, along with 20 thousand liters’ of milk and approximate 16 tonnes of rice which could be stored in a month. The ship contains 2 Reverse Osmosis plants which supply 400 tons of fresh water per day.
Looking into the technological advancement, the carrier is housed with the modern radar technology and sensors which helps the Indian navy for better surveillance circle of 500 km around the ship. The radars set up on the carrier are specialized for air traffic and short range navigating the ship borne aircrafts.
The ship is also packed with ground to ground missiles, fourth generation aircrafts, anti ship missiles, bombs, rockets and other various types of weapons to combat the rival forces. As we know the purpose of this ship is to carry aircrafts for the security of the nation and to strengthen foreign relation policy, therefore, facilities are available for landing and takeoff of the fighter planes. Some of the major systems include LUNA landing system, Daps Landing system and Flight deck lighting system.
The operation on board are assisted through the Computer aided Action Information Organization system, and LESORUB. These systems collect data and tactical pictures especially for fighter control and direction. External communication on the ship is also possible with the CCS MK II technology. This also helps the ship to communicate the Indian Navy’s network.
INS Vikramaditya, the former Russian ship is a house for around 200 Russian military personal which are residing along with the officers and the sailors. These personals are helping and training the Indian officers in operating this gigantic ship. This stay of the Russian military personals is according to the bilateral agreement.
This carrier is the first ever warship to provide with the facility of ATM to the officers and the sailors. This abolished the problem of officers and sailors because in the absence of the ATM facility, they fulfilled their cash requirement when the ship home ported on the western coast. The ATM facility is provided by the State Bank of India, which functions through the satellite network.
In 2018, the INS Vikramaditya, India’s largest carrier was fitted with two marine hydraulic systems to boost the air operation of the ship. Technodinamika, a subsidiary of Russia’s Rostec State Corporation will be responsible for the installation of this technology.
Contrary to this fact, the up gradation and sea trial will be completed in India.As if we look into the recent developments taking place in India in the field of up grading the armed forces including the navy, there are two Indian Navy ships which will work parallel with INS Vikramaditya.
INS Vikrant which is the first indigenous will be a moment of pride to this developing country. News has popped up recently on 6th May 2019 that a new carrier along the lines of the British HMDS Queen Elizabeth will be constructed as a part of Make in India Campaign.
INS Vikramaditya will add strength to the Indian navy with all the specification and modern techniques used in that ship. India being a developing country will stand on the same pedestal with the developed counties in term of the aircraft carrier ship.
This will be a moment of pride for the country. Combating the enemies from a distance is now possible with the advent of this carrier. A proper watch can also be kept cross the vast oceans. India will be more efficient than before and will be armed with the powers of modernization.