The
first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) of the Navy was floated out
at the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), at a low-key event attended by
senior shipping and naval officers in late December. Among those present
were Union Shipping Secretary K. Mohandas; Rear Admiral K.N. Vaidyanathan,
Director General, Naval Design; and Commodore K. Subramaniam, Chairman
and Managing Director of CSL.
The floating ceremony was followed by a meeting to review the progress
in the work being done on the aircraft carrier, a 40,000-tonne fleet
air defence platform of the Navy, which will be named after the legendary
INS Vikrant. The Union Shipping Secretary told The Hindu that the work
on the carrier was progressing, albeit not as per schedule, as so many
variables were being factored into the extremely complex construction
process.
The official added that the commissioning of the carrier, the
keel of which was laid in February 2009, was likely to overshoot its
original timeline.
According to a senior naval functionary, the carrier was ‘technically
floated out' as the shipyard needed the dry-dock for ‘some other
commercial work.' “The carrier has taken on about 14,000 tonnes.
She would now undergo interior outfitting, including the laying of pipes
before being dry-docked again in the latter half of next year for integration
of the propulsion gear-box, generators and the like,” he told
The Hindu. |
|
As earlier reported by The Hindu, a delay in the
delivery of gear boxes and associated systems had considerably slowed
down the construction of the prestigious carrier. Naval officers, however,
put on a brave face saying that the phase in which teething trouble
was encountered was over. “The gear box is ready and undergoing
trials, at last. The underwater package is all lined up but the rest
of the equipment has to be identified and tested,” said a naval
source.
After facing initial hiccups due to paucity of supply of steel, the
carrier project got the much-required thrust with the Defence Metallurgical
Research Laboratory (DMRL) and the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) fashioning
carrier-grade steel indigenously.
After the steel supply stabilised, problems pertaining to quality gearbox
put the brakes on the project. Elecon Engineering Company Limited, a
Gujarat-based firm which had earlier manufactured CODOG marine gear
boxes for the Navy's Shivalik-class stealth frigates, found itself in
the red attempting to make the carrier's huge main gearboxes. “They
have been able to overcome the difficulties with support from a German
firm,” said a Navy officer.
Source: The Hindu
|
