India launched its first domestically built aircraft carrier Monday with an eye

India launched its first domestically built aircraft carrier Monday with an eye on regional rivals China and Pakistan, although it will be several years before the ship is fully operational.

The $5-billion Vikrant, meaning “courage,” was unveiled at a shipyard in the southern port of Kochi. The 37,500-ton ship will be outfitted with electrical cables, ventilation, weaponry and machinery before undergoing sea trials in 2016 and formal induction into the navy in 2018.

The ship has been under consideration since the 1990s and construction is three years behind schedule.

When completed, the Vikrant will allow India to project more power in the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal to counter rival Pakistan and a more muscular China. Beijing in recent years has signed port agreements with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar and conducted anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden, raising concerns of encirclement among Indians. Last year Beijing launched its first aircraft carrier using a hull imported from Ukraine.

Pakistan’s fleet consists mostly of destroyers, submarines and frigates, some Chinese-built.

With the Vikrant’s launch, India joins a small group of countries – the United States, Russia, France and England – able to design and build their own carriers. The diesel- and gas-powered Vikrant is 853 feet long and 196 feet wide with a deck the size of two football fields.

Source AP