Asia Defense

India’s First Homegrown Aircraft Carrier to Enter Sea Trials in Early 2020

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Asia Defense

India’s First Homegrown Aircraft Carrier to Enter Sea Trials in Early 2020

India’s first domestically built aircraft carrier will begin sea trials in early 2020, according to the Indian Ministry of Defense.

India’s First Homegrown Aircraft Carrier to Enter Sea Trials in Early 2020
Credit: Indian Navy/Wikimedia Commons

India’s first domestically built aircraft carrier, the future INS Vikrant, designated Indigenous Aircraft Carrier 1 (IAC-1),  will enter sea trials in early 2020, the Indian Ministry of Defense (MoD) said in a statement following the visit of Indian Defense Secretary Sanjay Mitra to the Cochin shipyards  in Kochi in southern India on July 18.

“In-house trials of ship’s systems by the Carrier Acceptance & Trials Team have already commenced and the sea trials are expected to commence by early 2020,” the MoD said. The flattop had previously been expected to commence sea trials already in 2017. (Initially, the carrier was expected to be delivered to the Indian Navy in 2014 and commissioned in 2016 or 2017.)

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