Mumbai: India's only aircraft carrier - the INS Viraat - will have a special guest on Wednesday - President Pratibha Devisingh Patil. Patil. The supreme commander
of the country's armed forces will get on board the ship at around 11 a.m. tomorrow,
a spokesman of the Indian Navy said here. The President is expected to witness
Sukhoi Su-30 and Sea Harrier fighter jets take off from the ship during her three
hour stay. The 28,000-tonne INS Viraat, the Centaur class aircraft carrier, was
originally commissioned in the British Royal Navy as HMS Hermes Nov 18, 1959.
The Indian Navy acquired it in 1987. The President also scheduled to attend a
Fleet Review early next year.
