Exclusive: 'Aircraft carrier Vikrant can power half of Cochin city'

The amount of power generated by the turbines of the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier Vikrant can technically meet the electricity requirements of half of Kerala's Cochin city, said Cochin Shipyard Limited Chairman and Managing Director Madhu S Nair while taking part in Asianet News Network's special series named 'Samvad'.

India will commission Indigenous Aircraft Carrier Vikrant on September 2 in Kochi in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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Giving the scale of the capabilities of the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier, the CSL CMD told Asianet News Network's Abhilash G Nair, "The vessel is about 260 metres long. It displaces slightly upwards of 40000 tonnes. From a power point of view, it is propelled by four gas turbines, each of which is 24000 KW each. Then there is an electrical power plant on the ship: eight diesel alternators, each generating around 3000 KW. That is about 24 MW. Technically, it can power half the city of Cochin."

Talking about the opportunities presented by the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier, Cochin Shipyard Chairman and Managing Director Madhu S Nair said the project had elevated the thinking and capabilities of the shipyard to another level.

See the full episode of Asianet News Samvad below

"For example, the design and engineering capabilities have been stepped up significantly. In fact, one of the core areas for any high-tech vessel is design and engineering -- this is not visible outside. But only if you have these capabilities can you move forward," Nair said.

"All the figures on the ship -- kilometres of piping, 2400 KM of electrical cables. It is almost an 18-storey building. About 1600 people can live comfortably. There is a full-fledged hospital on board with an operation theatre, scan systems and other equipment. So when you take up such a large project, you can build ships but when you integrate systems -- and these systems must talk to each other -- that's what we call network-centric system," he added.

The confidence in handling large-scale network-centric systems is now extremely high, Nair said, adding, "We can make sure that any complicated system, which needs large-scale integration -- on this vessel, we have an integrated platform management system, what is otherwise called a fly-by-wire system, it can all be controlled from consoles and remote locations. These skills have been acquired and can be taken across. This is what the world needs for new-generation vessels."