In News:

• India's biggest ever indigenous military project – the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant – was commissioned by PM Modi at the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) Kochi, Kerala.

What’s in Today’s Article

• Indigenous Aircraft Carrier – About, features, significance, India’s earlier aircraft carriers
• News Summary

Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC)

• An aircraft carrier is a large ship that carries military aircraft and has a long, flat surface where they take off and land.
• It is often dubbed as is one of the most potent marine assets for any nation, which enhances a Navy’s capability to travel far from its home shores to carry out air domination operations.
• Recently, Indian Navy received its first indigenously built aircraft carrier called Vikrant.

Features

• 
• The aircraft carrier will be initially with the western naval command.
  • The Western Naval Command is one of the three command–level formations of the Indian Navy. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Significance of IAC for India

• Enable transition from Brown Water Navy to Blue Water Navy
  • IAC will help Indian Navy in its transition from Brown Water Navy to Blue Water Navy.
    • A blue water navy is a navy that has the capacity to project a nation’s strength and power across the high seas.
    • A brown water navy is capable of military operations in littoral zone waters.
• Strategic significance
  • India’s area of responsibility ranges from the east coast of Africa to the Western Pacific.
  • High percentage of India’s trade passing through the South China Sea.
  • Also, India is a dominant force in Indo-Pacific region.
  • Hence, IAC makes India a significant maritime power in the Indo-Pacific region and empowers India to counter China in the region more effectively.
    • China has three operational aircraft carriers. The third one was launched recently in June 2022.
• India joined elite club
• So far, only five or six nations have the capability of manufacturing an aircraft carrier.
• By demonstrating the capacity to build what is considered to be one of the most advanced and complex battleships, India now joins this elite club.
• Aatma Nirbhar Bharat
  • With an overall indigenous content of 76%, the aircraft carrier is a perfect example of the quest for Aatma Nirbhar Bharat.

India’s Earlier Aircraft Carriers

• INS Vikramaditya - The Navy’s only aircraft carrier in service currently (Russian built, commissioned in 2013).
• INS Vikrant – It was British-built HMS Hercules; Commissioned in Indian Navy in 1961. It was decommissioned in 1997
• INS Viraat - It was British-built HMS Hermes; Commissioned in Indian Navy in 1987. It was decommissioned in 2016

News Summary

• PM Modi inducted into the Navy its first fully made-in-India aircraft carrier INS Vikrant — also the largest warship to be built in the country.

Key highlights of the speech made on this occasion

• Self-reliant India
  • So far, such aircraft carriers were only made by developed countries. India has taken a step towards being a developed country by being part of the league.
• Highlighted the importance INS Vikrant
  • As India moves rapidly towards a $5 trillion economy, its share in global trade will increase. A large part of it will inevitably be through maritime routes.
  • In such a situation, INS Vikrant will be crucial as it will safeguard India’s security and economic interests.
• India is capable of meeting the collective security needs of the region
  • The commissioning of INS Vikrant showed the government’s resolve to ensure the safety and security of India for the next 25 years.
  • Vikrant is an assurance to friendly foreign countries that India is capable of meeting the collective security needs of the region.