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karatecatman · Guest

www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200903032184.htm
INS Viraat's 'power projection' trip to Gulf likely
New Delhi (PTI): In a show of its naval might, India is likely to deploy briefly its lone aircraft carrier, INS Viraat, in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden and West Asia this August and September.

"INS Viraat is likely to sail for about a month-and-a-half in the Arabian Sea and may go up to the Gulf of Aden after the refit programme at the Cochin Shipyard," Navy officers said here on Tuesday.

"It is only a power projection visit and is not for anti-piracy operations," they said. When the warship returns to India, the Navy plans to celebrate the golden jubilee of the ship's service, both in the Indian Navy and in its previous avatar as HMS Hermes in the British Royal Navy.

Viraat had moved into Cochin Shipyard's dry dock late last year to undergo the mandatory maintenance refit and repair and is likely to stay there till the end of June. "This warship, the largest at present in the Indian Navy with a 29,000-tonne displacement, can be dry docked only in the Cochin Shipyard, being the only such facility in the country," the shipyard's officials said.

When the work on the aircraft carrier is over, it would sail as a carrier battle group along with Navy's destroyers, frigates and other warships in the Arabian Sea.