Basin Trials of the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-1), which got underway in mid-September, were successfully concluded at Cochin Shipyard Limited on November 30, 2020 in the presence of Vice Admiral A K Chawla, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command and Madhu S Nair, Chairman and Managing Director Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL). Despite the restrictions imposed by the lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic, CSL and the Indian Navy worked as a cohesive team to ensure timely completion of all essential tasks leading up to Basin Trials of IAC-1.
Basin Trials are primarily aimed at proving the main propulsion plant (developed with the technical consultancy of Fincantieri of Italy) of the vessel in harbour and is a precursor to the ensuing sea-trials. Onboard IAC-1, extensive trials of all four LM-2500 gas turbines, main gear boxes, shafting and controllable-pitch propellers, along with their integrated control systems, were carried out during these trials. In addition, major auxiliary equipment and systems such as steering gear, air-conditioning plants, compressors, centrifuges, all 60 critical pumps, fire-main system, power generation and distribution system, major machinery fire-fighting and de-flooding systems, all deck machinery as well as entire internal communication equipment were also proved during the harbour trials phase.
N V Suresh Babu, Director Operations, CSL, Commodore Ishan Tandon, Director Carrier Acceptance Trial Team (CATT), Commodore Sameer Aggarwal, Chief Staff Officer (Technical) of Southern Naval Command, Commodore Cyril Thomas, Warship Production Superintendent (WPS) and Commodore Vivek Dahiya, Commanding Officer (Designated) also witnessed the event. With successful completion of Basin Trials, IAC-1 has entered the final phase of the project. The sea-trials are planned in first half of 2021.
Close to 75% of the material and equipment on-board the IAC-1 is indigenous. This includes raw material such as 23,000 tonnes of DMR-249A steel, 2,500km of electrical cables, 150km of pipes and 2,000 valves as well as finished products such as anchor capstans, rigid-hull inflatable boats and LCVPs, galley equipment, air-conditioning and refrigeration plants, steering gear, RO plants, main switchboards, energy distribution centres, more than 150 pumps and motors, AK-630M guns, Kavach chaff launchers, internal and external communications equipment, all network systems, including ship data network, integrated platform management system and the CMS-71 combat management system (developed and built by TATA Advanced Systems Ltd). More than 50 Indian OEMs have been directly involved in this project. Close to 2,000 Indian citizens received direct employment on-board IAC-1 on a daily basis and over 40,000 received indirect employment. In addition, about 85% of the project cost of approximately Rs.20,000 crore has been ploughed back into the Indian economy.
