India to commission its first home-made aircraft carrier Friday

India will commission its first domestically built aircraft carrier, Vikrant, on Friday, after a year of sea trials.

The 45,000-tonne warship — capable of accommodating 30 military aircraft — will be inducted into the country’s Navy by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a grand ceremony in the southern port city of Kochi, reports UNB.

With the commissioning, India will join an elite group of nations — the US, the UK, Russia, China and France — that can build such large aircraft carriers.

Vikrant has been christened after her illustrious predecessor, India’s first Aircraft Carrier that played a stellar role in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. It has been built at a cost at of 2.5 billion US dollars.

The Indian Navy’s existing maritime fleet has one aircraft carrier, 10 destroyers, 12 frigates and 20 corvettes.