New Delhi: The sea stretched calm and endless when Prime Minister Narendra Modi stepped aboard INS Vikrant. He walked the deck, with the wind cutting across the steel surface. Right beneath his feet sat one of India’s most secretive defense marvels – the Barak-8 missile launcher, hidden inside the ship’s vertical launch system.
Vikrant is not an ordinary warship. It is a floating fortress built in India, armed with technology that can erase a threat before it even appears on the horizon. The Barak-8 missile forms the heart of that shield.
The Missile Beneath Modi’s Feet
The section where the prime minister stood houses the Barak-8 surface-to-air missile launch cells, a total of 32 in number. Each cell holds a weapon designed to strike any aircraft, drone or incoming missile within 100 kilometres. The system gives Vikrant the punch of an extra destroyer.
Few aircraft carriers in the world carry their own complete air-defense system. Vikrant does. It can fight, defend and command without waiting for backup.
Lightning From The Sea
Barak means “lightning” in Hebrew. True to its name, the missile moves like a flash in the sky. Developed jointly by India and Israel, it tracks targets with its own radar and locks and destroys on its own.
The missile shoots straight up from its cell, rising into the air at more than 2,500 kilometres per hour. Its 60-kilogram warhead explodes right on impact. Rain or fog does not stop it. It doesn’t miss.
It weighs just 275 kilograms and stretches 4.5 metres long. It is small enough to fit in a cell and strong enough to shatter steel in flight.
The Barak-8 can climb to 20 kilometres in the air. One missile can chase a target. Thirty-two can wipe out an entire strike.
Built For Indian Ocean
INS Vikrant is India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier that weighs over 40,000 tons and sails at 30 knots. It can carry 26 MiG-29K fighters and eight helicopters. Its true defense lies within.
Experts call it a “mini-destroyer”. The aircraft carrier’s 32-cell VLS system makes it independent. Most carriers depend on escort ships for protection. Vikrant does not have to. It guards itself and others around it.
The Barak-8 has given India an edge. It ended dependence on foreign systems. It marked a new phase in Indo-Israeli defense cooperation. The missile built for the sea became the shield of the nation.
INS Vikrant now moves across the Indian Ocean as a sign of that power. It is not just a carrier. It is a statement that India’s defense stands on its own feet, and beneath those feet, a thunderbolt waits in silence.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: ZEE News
