Navy chief reviews aircraft carrier Vikrant’s progress

TIL Desk/National/Kochi/ Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba has reviewed the progress of construction of the country’s first indigenous aircraft carrier ‘Vikrant’ at the Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) here. He was briefed about various construction activities related to the 40,000-tonne aircraft carrier, whose keel was laid in February 2009.

The INS Vikrant, which was launched in August 2013 and undocked two years later, is in its final stage of construction at the CSL. On his arrival, Admiral Lanba was received at the naval air station INS Garuda by Vice Admiral A R Karve, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C), Southern Naval Command, a Defence release said.

“At the shipyard, the CNS (chief of Naval staff) accompanied by the FOC-in-C (South) and other senior officials of the Navy took a walk around of the ship to get a first hand appreciation of the progress of work onboard…,” it said.

Later, the Chief of Naval Staff had discussions with CSL Chairman and Managing Director Madhu S Nair. Work on the hull structure of the carrier was nearing completion and outfitting activities on various equipment and systems were under progress, the release said.