Aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya is back on high seas | Latest News India

India’s first aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya is expected to come out of a 15-month major overhaul at Karwar Naval Base and set to sea next week, followed by extensive sea trials in March.

The 45,000-ton aircraft carrier will be handed over to the Indian Navy by March 31 and MiG-29K fighter operations will begin in April 2023. The ship was sent to Karwar for a major overhaul in December 2021.

According to officials familiar with the matter, the INS Vikramaditya is expected to move to the outer anchorage of Karwar Naval Base with its own engines and begin sailing/sea trials between Goa and the homeport INS Kadamba in March. It is expected that within the next fortnight all engines of the modified Kiev-class carrier will be operational and the ship is expected to be handed over for operation on March 31.

While flight test operations begin in April, March itself begins various checks of the armament and surface-to-air missile systems on board. The warship carries a maximum of 36 aircraft, including 26 MiG-29K fighter jets and 10 Kamov Ka-31 electronic advance warning (AEW) helicopters and Ka-28 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters.

With the INS Vikramaditya poised to lead the Navy, India will now have two carrier forces, with the new carrier INS Vikrant also undergoing sea trials on the west coast. It is understood that once INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya are fully operational, the new aircraft carrier will be based in Visakhapatnam on the east coast of India, and the former Russian carrier will project maritime dominance from the west coast. As the INS Vikrant pier on the east coast will take some time, the Indian Navy is planning to build a pier at Katupali shipyard near Chennai and at the INS Varsha outer anchorage at Rambilli, south of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. for lease increasing challenge of the expanding PLA Navy.

It is only a matter of time before the Modi government decides which fighter jets should be placed aboard the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, with the French Rafale-M and the US F-18 being options. The government will buy 26 government-to-government fighter jets, including eight two-seat trainers, based on the Navy’s recommendation.

With the Chinese Navy expanding its presence from the Strait of Malacca to the South Indian Ocean and east coast of Africa with a naval base in Djibouti, the Indian Navy is expanding its maritime defenses with its second nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN ) strengthen. scheduled to enter service no later than 2024 and a new conventional nuclear-armed submarine to join the force in 2025.