INS Vikramaditya to get its own missile shield

The country's largest and most powerful warship, aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, will finally get its own missile shield soon. The Navy will cannibalize an Israeli Barak-I anti-missile defence system from the frigate INS Godavari, which will be decommissioned shortly, for the carrier.
Under a $2.33-billion deal with Russia, the refurbished Admiral Gorshkov or INS Vikramaditya was inducted by the Navy in November 2013. With 45 MiG-29Ks ordered for another $2 billion to operate from its deck, the carrier is the costliest single weapon platform the country has ever bought.
But INS Vikramaditya came without any integral “close-in weapon systems“ for protection against enemy aircraft, missiles and drones. Though a carrier usually operates with a battle group of destroyers, frigates and others, all equipped for air defence, the absence of such weapons on board INS Vikramaditya was considered a major shortcoming. The Navy first fitted four AK-630 rapid-fire gun systems on the carrier, and will now install the Barak-I system on the 45,400-tonne warship, which is currently undergoing a short refit at Karwar after a year-long operational deployment.