At a Glance : INS Vikramaditya, India's new Aircraft Carrier

New Delhi: India is surrounded by water on three sides and so it become utmost important that India should have a strong naval force through which it can protect the country from any act of action done by the enemy . India needs to guard it long range of coast line in East, West and South .Therefore it become utmost important that India should have Aircraft carrier through which the might of Indian Navy can be felt by the enemy forces.At present Indian Navy has INS Vikramaditya which was earlier known as Admiral Gorshkov in erstwhile Soviet Union. Lets take a look on this huge giant structure which is meant not only for protection purpose but also for attack if required. With Vikramaditya, for the first time in over two decades, the Indian navy has two operational aircraft including the aging INS Viraat, which is likely to be decommissioned in the next few years. The ship has been renamed in honour of Vikramaditya, a legendary 1st century BC emperor of Ujjain, famed for his wisdom, valour and magnanimity. Originally built as Baku and commissioned in 1987, the carrier served with the Soviet and Russian Navies before being decommissioned in 1996 as she was too expensive to operate on a post-Cold War budget. A cash-strapped Russia first offered the partly-burnt Gorshkov to India as a gift in 1994, provided the costs for refit and fighters were paid.Protracted negotiations followed, with the refit cost jumping from $400 million to $700 million.In January 2004, a $1.5 billion package deal was eventually inked, with $974 million earmarked for the refit and rest for 16 MiG-29Ks. Gorshkov was then to be delivered by August 2008. But more was to follow, with Russia milking India on the ground the refit work had been grossly underestimated. Amid the bitter wrangling, which injected a distinct chill into bilateral ties, the then Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta even accused Russia of reneging from what was a "fixed price contract". Finally, a fresh deal was inked in 2010, with the refit being pegged at $2.33 billion and another $2 billion for 45 MiG-29Ks. Originally built as the Admiral Gorshkov in the Soviet Union, the $2.3 billion (about Rs. 12,500 crore) aircraft carrier had been refurbished by Russia, the world's second-largest arms exporter for India, its biggest customer. The induction of the 45,000-tonne aircraft carrier that can carry about 30-odd aircraft was delayed by almost a year. The INS Vikramaditya can do a maximum of about 28 Knots per hour. In sea trials, the ship sailed for 100 days and its flight deck - the most critical part of an aircraft carrier - is operational, senior officials told. The MiG-29KUB two-seat naval fighter jet will be positioned on the Vikramaditya. It will be equipped with Russian-made KH-35 air to air missiles. The MiG 29-Ks would provide a significant boost to Indian Navy with their range of over 700 nautical miles, extendable to over 1,900 nautical miles with mid-air refuelling, and an array of weapons like anti-ship missiles, beyond visual range air-to-air missiles and guided bombs and rockets.It is practically a floating city, with a staggering 100,000 eggs and 20,000 litres of milk being consumed a month.The 44,500-tonne INS Vikramaditya, procured from Russia, is one of the newest acquisitions of the Indian Navy and the most powerful symbol of its military reach.It was commissioned by then defence minister A.K. Antony last November at Russia's Sevmash shipyard.INS Vikramaditya has an overall length of 284 metres and a beam of 60 metres, stretching as much as three football fields put together.Standing about 20 storeys tall from keel to the highest point, the vessel has 22 decks.With over 1,600 personnel on board, Vikramaditya is literally a floating city.Linked to the personnel on board is mammoth logistics requirement - nearly 100,000 eggs, 20,000 litres of milk and 16 tonnes of rice, to name just a few, per month.