INS Vikrant: What You Need To Know About India's First Indigenous Aircraft Carrier

Prime Minister Narendra Modi maintained his annual tradition of celebrating Diwali with the armed forces. He spent Diwali 2025 with Navy personnel onboard INS Vikrant off the coast of Goa and Karwar (Karnataka). 

Addressing Navy personnel on Monday, Modi said the INS Vikrant, India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier, reflects the capability of the country’s armed forces.

Modi also celebrated the success of Operation Sindoor. "Just a few months ago, we saw that Vikrant made all of Pakistan sleepless," he said, referring to Operation Sindoor, which was launched on May 7 in response to a Pahalgam terror attack.

INS Vikrant is India’s first home-built aircraft carrier, commissioned in 2022. As the Navy’s second aircraft carrier after INS Vikramaditya, which was built on a Russian platform, Vikrant was entirely designed and constructed in India. 

The warship spans 262 metres in length and nearly 60 metres in height, with the capacity to carry 30 fighter planes and helicopters, and accommodate a crew of around 1,600. The vessel has been described as a “city on the move,” equipped with state-of-the-art facilities.

To visualise its size, the Navy has compared INS Vikrant to two football fields end to end and 18 floors tall, with a hangar as large as two Olympic-size swimming pools.

The warship houses 2,400 compartments, a 16-bed hospital and 250 tankers of fuel, reflecting its capacity to operate independently for extended missions.

The current INS Vikrant is named after its predecessor, which was acquired from the UK and commissioned in 1961. The first INS Vikrant played a big role during the 1971 war against Pakistan. The name Vikrant, meaning “courageous,” continues the legacy of national pride. The original carrier was decommissioned in 1997 after years of service in several military operations.

After over a decade of construction, INS Vikrant has achieved full operational status, confirmed by the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOCINC), Southern Naval Command, in December 2024. The carrier is now under the Western Naval Command and is capable of undertaking a wide range of naval operations.