India's Indigenous Aircraft Carrier to Undertake Complex Maneuvers in Next Sea Trials

India’s indigenously built aircraft carrier, IAC Vikrant has headed out for the next set of sea trials.

The maiden sea trials in August of last year were to establish propulsion, navigational suite and basic operations, the second sea trial later in October-November witnessed the ship being put through its paces in terms of various machinery trials and flight trials. Various seamanship evolutions were also successfully cleared during the second sortie.

In present third sea trials, IAC Vikrant sails to undertake complex maneuvers to establish specific readings of how the ship performs in various conditions along with performing tests on various sensor suites of the ship.

76% of the equipment used in the IAC is indigenously sourced or the close engagement between the Design teams of the Indian Navy and M/s Cochin Shipyard Limited. The ship has also been able to carry out basic flying operations from its very first sortie. On successful completion of a series of progressive sea trials, the ship is scheduled to be commissioned as INS Vikrant later this year, as the nation commemorates ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’.