Historic Moment For India: INS Vikrant Starts Its Sea Trial

India's First Indigeneously Made Aircraft Carrier, 'Vikrant's' much-awaited maiden sea trial finally kicked off on the coasts of Kochi on Wednesday, 4 August. With that, India joined an Elite group of countries, making it a Historic and Proud moment for the nation, for more reasons than one.

INS Vikrant is India's first indigeneously designed and built aircraft carrier and is named after India's first aricraft carrier and the Indian Navy's crown jewel from 1961 to 1997.

INS Vikrant has been designed by the Indian Navy’s Directorate of Naval Design and built at the state-owned Cochin Shipyard Limited. The project cost nearly Rs 23,000 crore.

India currently has just one aircraft carrier – the solitary 44,500-tonne INS Vikramaditya, which was inducted from Russia for $2.33 billion, on November 2013. Once INS Vikrant is commissioned in August 2022, India will have two aircraft carriers for its eastern and western seaboards. Goes without saying, it is going to up the country's maritime capabilities.

Naturally, the Indian Navy, in a statement, called it a significant achievement in the nation's "quest for Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India initiatives", with more than "76% indigenous content."