KOCHI: India debuted its first locally made aircraft carrier on Friday, a milestone in government efforts to reduce its dependence on foreign arms and counter China’s growing military assertiveness in the region.

The INS Vikrant, one of the world’s biggest naval vessels at a length of 262 metres (860 feet), will formally enter service after 17 years of construction and tests.

It inherits the name of a retired carrier famed for enforcing a blockade against Pakistan’s naval forces during the 1971 Bangladeshi independence war.

“Today, INS Vikrant has filled the country with a new confidence, and has created a new confidence in the country,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the ship’s commissioning ceremony in southern Kerala state.

India to commission first home-built carrier

“We’ve joined the league of those select nations who can construct such large aircraft carriers at home,” he added.

Around 1,600 sailors will crew the Vikrant, which will initially service fighter jets redesignated from India’s only other aircraft carrier.

That vessel was bought second-hand from Russia, which has long been a major arms supplier to New Delhi.

Modi’s government has sought to wean the country off its dependency on foreign military purchases and build a domestic defence hardware industry.

It has invested heavily in local construction, with more than three dozen other naval ships and submarines currently being built in the country’s shipyards.