How INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya stack up against each other

India launched its maiden indigenously designed and built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant on Friday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioning the warship that put India into a select league of countries with domestic capability to develop such large vessels.

The prime minister said Vikrant, which means victorious, is huge, massive, and vast. “Vikrant is distinguished, Vikrant is also special. Vikrant is not just a warship and stood testimony to Indian skills and talent. He also spoke about certain features of the aircraft carrier — which he described as a “floating airfield, a floating town” — and said the power generated in it can light up 5,000 houses.

With the commissioning of INS Vikrant, India now has two operational aircraft carriers to bolster maritime security, the other being INS Vikramaditya. Here is a look at how the two warships stack up against each other: 

While INS Vikrant is India’s first indigenously designed and built aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya is a modified Kiev-class aircraft carrier purchased by India from Russia in 2013 and was renamed in the honour of Vikramaditya, the legendary emperor. 

INS Vikrant is 262-metre long and 62 metres wide. It displaces approximately 43,000 tonnes when fully loaded and has a maximum designed speed of 28 knots with endurance of 7,500 nautical miles. On the other hand, INS Vikramaditya has an overall length of 284 metres and is 60 metres wide. It is capable of operations up to a range of over 7,000 nautical miles (13,000 km).