INS Vikramaditya joins Indian Navy

November 17, 2013

Screenshot_4 After a long wait the $2.3 billion aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya was commissioned into the Indian Navy in a strategic boost to India’s maritime warfare capabilities. The gigantic 44,500-tonne warship was inducted into the Indian Navy at the Sevmash Shipyard in Russia. The warship will be escorted to India on a near two-month journey by a group of warships to secure a safe sail to its base at Karwar on the Arabian Sea coast.

INS Vikramaditya

A Kiev class aircraft carrier which was commissioned by Russian Navy in 1987 under the name Baku.
Later rechristened as Admiral Gorshkov and last sailed in 1995 in Russia, before being offered to India.
Russia sold the carrier to India after it became too expensive for the country to operate it on a post-Cold War budget.
Underwent extensive refurbishment and upgrade to a light aircraft carrier at the Sevmash Shipyard in the Russian city of Severodvinsk.
Initially scheduled to be delivered in 2008, but the deadline was repeatedly postponed.
Length: 284 metres
Displacement: 44,500-tonne
Speed: In excess of 30knots or 56km/hr
Range: 7000 nautical miles (13,000 km)

It will have MiG-29K naval combat aircraft, Kamov 31 and Kamov 28 anti-submarine warfare and maritime surveillance helicopters positioned over it.

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