Gujarat-based industrial gears and material handling equipment maker Elecon Engineering Ltd is likely to deliver a pair of marine gearbox to the public sector shipbuilding major, Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) for construction of India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy in the first quarter of the next fiscal, a source close to the development informed.
Elecon has joined hands with a German capital goods maker, Renk AG for a technical collaboration to build the marine gears for the Indian Navy. “The order for a pair of marine gears from Cochin Shipyard is likely to be delivered by the March 2012 or latest by the first quarter of the next fiscal. There were certain preconditions to qualify for the order. As a part of it, the company had entered into technical collaboration with German firm, Renk AG,” said a senior official from Elecon.
“The components are manufactured at the company’s facility in Vallabh Vidyanagar near Anand and then sent to Germany for testing required quality standards,” he added.
Elecon was awarded the order in 2006 amounting to around Rs 39 crore for design, manufacture and supply of one set of marine gearbox from Cochin Shipyard Limited to construct India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy.
Sources at Cochin Shipyard informed that the first phase of the construction of the carrier will be over by December-end that includes completion of the construction till the hull part of the carrier.
“By the end of this month, the first phase of contract would be over and the construction till hull part of the ship will be completed. The construction is largely progressing as per the schedule and comparable with the time taken by any global shipbuilding player,” informed a source at Cochin Shipyard, not willing to be quoted.
The ship will be constructed in two phases with delivery to the Indian Navy scheduled in end-2014. CSL commenced steel cutting for the project in April 2005 and achieved the keel laying in February 2009.
The design and construction of the first indigenous aircraft carrier was sanctioned by the government of India in January 2003. The carrier has been designed by the Directorate of Naval Design (DND), only government-run organisation in the world to undertake indigenous design of warships. The carrier, with a a length of 260 meter and maximum breadth of 60 meters, is being constructed using high strength steel developed in-house with the help of DRDO and SAIL.
The ship will be propelled by two shafts, each coupled to two LM-2500 gas turbines developing a total power of 80 megawatt to attain speeds in excess of 28 knots.
The aircraft carrier will have two takeoff runways and a landing strip with three arrester wires. It can carry a maximum of 30 aircraft with an adequate hangarage capacity.
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