This is what will happen to India’s oldest warship-INS Viraat

India’s 58-year-old aircraft carrier, INS Viraat, might just be junked and sold for scrap. The country’s oldest warhorse, which served India for 30 glorious years of service in Navy was proposed to be turned into a museum but things haven’t started yet.

As per various media reports, the defence ministry might be forced to scrap the carrier due to financial issues.

"It will cost almost Rs 1,000 crore to convert the 13-storey-high INS Viraat into the proposed aircraft-carrier museum, with a proper final resting place or berthing, backed by a self-sustaining revenue model. The Andhra government is willing to take the carrier but is demanding the MoD foot half the cost," a source told ET

In response to Andhra Pradesh government’s request, the defence ministry said it can provide technical help and advice, but not major funding for the project. The carrier will now be decommissioned in Mumbai.

INS Viraat, the 27, 800 carrier, saw operational service in the Royal British Navy for 27 years before being inducted by the Indian Navy in 1987.

The Navy meanwhile is preparing to distribute the remaining 11 Sea Harrier "jump jets", which operated from INS Viraat's deck, as museum pieces to its different establishments.