THE SUCCESSORS

The navy plans to deploy two carrier strike groups over the next four to five years. One centred around INS Vikramaditya and the other around Vikrant, under construction at Kochi

Inducted in 2013, Vikramaditya has a displacement of 44,500 tonnes

Bought from Russia for $2.33 billion, Vikramaditya is under maintenance till November-end

Vikrant will cost $3 billion and operate MiG-29Ks, naval variant of the light combat aircraft and new multirole helicopters

Viraat’s trained crews will man Vikrant. Viraat carried a crew of 1,500 men