Indian Carrier Vikramaditya Exceeds Required Performance Characteristics

21.06.2012 Indian aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (former Russian aircraft carrying cruiser Admiral Gorshkov) will finish sea trials in the White Sea this week, a source in shipbuilding industry told ITAR-TASS today.

"Experts of Sevmash modernized the carrier are satisfied with the fact that the ship's characteristics exceeded required ones", pointed out the source.

"The ship runs trials by our crew; trial team and Indian naval officers are on board as well", he added.

The source said that in the next week Vikramaditya being replenished with fuel, water and food would set a course from the White Sea to the Barents Sea "to start test flights of deck-based MiG-29K fighters".

Earlier on, press secretary of Sevmash shipyard Anastasia Nikitinskaya said that "trials program will last 124 days".

A source in shipbuilding industry confirmed that it was planned to hand over the carrier to Indian Navy in December.

Representative of United Shipbuilding Corporation Alexei Kravchenko earlier said that "during the sea trials in the White Sea it is planned to test functioning of the carrier's basic systems, main and auxiliary powerplants, communication and navigational systems, and so on".

According to the intergovernmental package agreement tied in Jan 2004, the hull of Russian aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Gorshkov was handed over to Indian Navy for free with condition that the ship would be modernized at Sevmash shipyard and equipped wih Russian-made aircraft. In addition, Russia was to train Indian crew and construct the ship's basing infrastructure in the Indian Ocean. Overall cost of the contract was initially valued as $1.5 bln, and all retrofitting works were supposed to finish in 2008. However, the contract's implementation deadlines were postponed. Russia said the scope of works had been underrated and asked additional financing. On March 12, 2010 during the Putin's visit to India a supplementary agreement was signed. According to Indian sources, the Russian carrier will cost $2.33 bln. Her lifetime will last 30 years. Since 2004, Nevskoye Design Bureau, Sevmash shipyard and contracting organizations have carried out huge volume of works. The ship is equipped with deck and ski-ramp for MiG-29K fighters, repaired and upgraded for new missions hull is full of up-to-date equipment, and new cables with the length over 2,000 km were laid. The carrier got new navigation and radar systems, aircraft communication and control system. As a result, the shipyard has built a brand new ship.

Formerly named Baku, aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov joined Northern Fleet in 1987. After repairs and modernization, the ship's full displacement is 45,000 tons, overall length is 283.5 meters, overall beam is 59.8 meters. The ship may carry 30 aircraft including deck-based fighters MiG-29K and helicopters. Crew manpower is 1,924 men.