NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioned India’s first home-built aircraft carrier on Friday, underlining his government’s efforts to boost domestic production to supply a military deployed on two contentious borders.
After 17 years of construction and tests, Modi commissioned the INS Vikrant — the navy’s second operational aircraft carrier and the largest warship ever built in India — at a state-run shipyard in the south.
“Today, India has joined those countries in the world which can manufacture such a huge aircraft carrier with indigenous technology,” Modi said. “It is a symbol of indigenous potential, indigenous resources and indigenous skills.”
Designed to accommodate a crew of about 1,600 and a fleet of 30 aircraft, the Vikrant will rely on Russian-designed MIG-29K aircraft that already operate from India’s other carrier, the INS Vikramaditya, which India bought from Russia.
Boeing and France’s Dassault are seeking to provide India with more than two dozen jets for the Vikrant.
India is one of the world’s largest arms importers, spending $12.4 billion between 2018 and 2021, but it has been seeking to develop its own manufacturing capabilities as key supplier Russia fights a war in Ukraine and faces sanctions.
India has identified some 8,000 imported defense items worth about $1.03 trillion (82 trillion rupees) in 2022-23 that it wants its firms to make, according to the defense ministry.
India employs 1.38 million people in its armed forces, with large numbers deployed on borders with nuclear-armed rivals China and Pakistan.
“India is working with all its might to become self-reliant,” Modi said, referring to the home-built Tejas light-combat aircraft and artillery.
The Vikrant will significantly add to India’s maritime capabilities, allowing the navy to operate an aircraft carrier on each seaboard, alongside its 10 destroyers, 12 frigates and 20 corvettes.
China, which also has two operational carriers and is working on a third, has a much larger fleet of 335 vessels, including about 48 destroyers, 43 frigates and 61 corvettes.
“Security concerns in the Indo-Pacific region and the Indian Ocean have long been ignored,” Modi said. “But today this area is a major defense priority for our country.”
Narendra Modi commissions India’s first home-built aircraft carrier in defense push
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Narendra Modi commissions India’s first home-built aircraft carrier in defense push
- INS Vikrant is the navy’s second operational aircraft carrier and the largest warship ever built in India
- Carrier to significantly add to India’s maritime capabilities, allowing the navy to operate an aircraft carrier on each seaboard
Dozens missing after boat carrying more than 200 migrants capsized off the coast of Gambia
- At least 102 survivors have been rescued and seven bodies recovered from the boat that capsized on New Year’s Eve in northwest Gambia’s North Bank region
BANJUL: Dozens are missing after a boat carrying more than 200 migrants on their way to Europe capsized off the coast of Gambia, the West African nation’s leader said late Friday, setting off a frantic search and rescue operation.
At least 102 survivors have been rescued and seven bodies recovered from the boat that capsized on New Year’s Eve in northwest Gambia’s North Bank region, Gambian President Adama Barrow said in a state broadcast.
The emergency services were joined by local fishermen and other volunteers in searching for the victims, days after Wednesday’s incident near the village of Jinack, he said.
Thousands of Africans desperate for better opportunities in Europe risk their lives traveling on boats along the Atlantic coast, one of the world’s deadliest migrant routes that connects the West African coast across Gambia, Senegal and Mauritania.
Many migrants seeking to reach Spain via the Canary Islands never make it due to high risks of boats capsizing. In August 2025, around 150 people were either dead or missing after their boat that came from Gambia capsized off the coast of Mauritania. A similar incident in July 2024 killed more than a dozen migrants with 150 others declared missing.
It was not clear what led to the latest tragedy. Gambia’s Ministry of Defense said the boat was found “grounded on a sandbank.”
“The national emergency response plan has been activated and the government has deployed adequate resources to intensify efforts and provide assistance to the survivors,” Barrow said.
Some of the 102 survivors were undergoing urgent medical care, the Gambian leader said.
As he condoled with families, Barrow vowed a full investigation and called the accident a “painful reminder of the dangerous and life-threatening nature of irregular migration.”
“The government will strengthen efforts to prevent irregular migration and remains determined to create safer and more dignified opportunities for young people to fulfil their dreams,” he added.
