The Hindu Business Line : Keel for indigenous aircraft carrier laid at Cochin Shipyard

A major block, forming part of the keel of the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier, is lowered into the building bay of the Cochin Shipyard Ltd, with the Defence Minister, Mr A.K. Antony, formally laying the keel at a ceremony at the shipyard, in Kochi on Saturday. — Vipin Chandran

Our Bureau

Kochi, Feb. 28 India joins the select club of 40,000-tonne plus aircraft carrier designers and builders with the keel laying for the country’s first indigenous aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy at Cochin Shipyard Ltd on Saturday.

The Union Defence Minister, Mr A.K. Antony, laid the keel at a function held at the CSL premises in the presence of Admiral Sureesh Mehta, Chief of the Naval Staff, senior politicians and senior naval officers.

Mr Antony said his ministry and the Navy would support the future expansion of the shipyard and the expansion of its dry dock. The Indian Navy will be part of CSL provided the yard would deliver the first aircraft carrier within the stipulated time frame, he said.

Admiral Mehta stressed on the need to harness the strength of the public-private partnership in warship design and construction to meet national requirements since the public sector defence shipyards are currently working to its full capacity. The Navy, he said, hopes to place orders for 60 more platforms — including frigates, destroyers, another aircraft carrier and several other ships of different types — over the next to 10 to 12 years. These platforms are to be inducted to the Navy commencing from the middle of the next decade, over a period of further 10 years, he said.

Foreseeing a challenging future for the Cochin Shipyard in warship construction, the Naval chief said “this is certainly not the last indigenous aircraft carrier to be built. There will be at least another one in the near future. I have outlined our future requirements earlier and we would like to see CSL participating in more and more warship projects”.