Article Posted on : - Jan 18, 2016

KOCHI (PTI): Admiral R K Dhowan, the Chief of Naval Staff, on Saturday reviewed the progress of the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) 'Vikrant' which is under construction at Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL).

Dhowan who arrived here on Saturday, was received by Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba, the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Southern Naval Command at the naval air station INS Garuda on his arrival.

"The Admiral, accompanied by the FOC-in-C South visited the CSL in the afternoon where he had a walk around of the ship to have a first hand appreciation of the progress of work onboard and was briefed on the various milestone activities of construction," a Navy release said here.

At the shipyard, he also held discussions with Madhu S Nair, Chairman and Managing Director, CSL and other senior officials of Navy and CSL which included Vice Admiral G S Pabby, Controller of Warship Production and Acquisition.

'Vikrant' is the first aircraft carrier to be indigenously built in the country, the keel of which was laid in February 2009.

The ship was launched in August 2013 with the completion of the hull construction and is expected to be delivered by 2018 end.

The Indian Navy currently operates two aircraft carrier, INS Viraat (procured from UK) and INS Vikramaditya (procured from Russia) out of which INS Viraat is likely to be decommissioned in the near future.