Aircraft integration trials on INS Vikrant to be over before monsoon next year, says Navy chief Admiral Hari Kumar
The aircraft integration trials on India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant will be over before the monsoon next year, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar said on Wednesday in Pune.
Admiral Hari Kumar was the reviewing officer for the Passing Out Parade of the 143rd course of the National Defence Academy (NDA) which was held on the academy’s Khetrapal Ground on Wednesday morning.
Answering a question on INS Vikrant, during the interaction with the media on the sidelines of the parade, the Navy chief said, “The seagoing trials of the carrier are already over after which it was commissioned. The aircraft integration trials have started. We have to first get the aircraft landing systems proven, so those trials are on right now. Normally, the integration of the aircraft takes six to eight months. We hope to accomplish it by May or June, before the monsoons in 2023. That is what we are working towards unless we face any other challenges.”
Built by state-owned Cochin Shipyard Ltd, INS Vikrant was commissioned in the first week of September at Kochi.
Speaking about the Navy’s indigenous capacity building, Admiral Hari Kumar said, “In the last seven years, we have commissioned 29 ships and submarines; all of them were built in India. We have 45 ships and submarines under construction, 43 of which are being built in India. And there are 49 more for which we are progressing the Acceptance of Necessity.”
The Navy chief, along with Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari and Army chief General Manoj Pande, is from the 61st course of the NDA.
