INS Vikrant: First Made-In-India Aircraft Carrier To Host Naval Commanders Meet

In a first, the Indian Navy will hold the Naval Senior Commander's Conference on India’s first indigenously-made Aircraft-Carrier INS Vikrant, reported Times Of India.

The Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh will also attend the conference on 6 March, which will be held at the coast of the Arabian Sea.

The Naval Commander Conference provides a forum for senior naval officers to exchange ideas, insights, and strategies on how best to safeguard India's maritime interests.

The top Naval brass will review the country’s maritime security and operational preparedness in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), the TOI report says.

The Senior Commanders will also formulate strategies to counter China and Pakistan’s collusive threats in the IOR, as well as, make modernisation plans and the roadmap ahead.

INS Vikrant, the 45,000-tonne indigenous aircraft carrier, has recently begun conducting fighter jet trials with both the Russian-origin MiG-29Ks and the indigenous Naval-Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) landing on its sprawling deck.

These successful landings on the deck of INS Vikrant are a significant step towards making the carrier fully operational and combat-ready by June 2023.

The carrier was inducted into the Navy with much fanfare in September 2022.

On the other hand, the Russian-made aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya is back in the sea undergoing trials after a 15-month major refit following a fire onboard the carrier.

After both the INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya become operational, presumably by mid-2023, the Indian Navy will have two operational carriers at the same time after a long gap.