Aircraft Carrier INS Vikramaditya to Take Sea in Summer 2013

23.11.2012 Indian aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (former Russian Admiral Gorshkov) will resume sea trials early July 2013.

According to Russian Navy Main HQ, the aircraft carrier will take sea on July 3. That event will be preceded by 2-month long underbody examination at the dock of Sevmash shipyard.

The sea trial program will be accomplished in full scale, added the source in Navy HQ.

Previously, official handover of the ship to Indian party was scheduled on Dec 4, 2012. However, a number of defects were found during a trial round in Sept 2012.

The largest ever Russian-Indian military export contract was signed in 2004 providing that Russia would upgrade its aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov for Indian Navy at the price of $750 mln. Initially, it was planned to deliver the ship to the client in 2008, but the deadlines were postponed many times due to increasing volume of works. Currently, the contract value is $2.3 bln.

By now, aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya has passed large-scale modernization at Russian shipyard Sevmash. The ship is equipped with flight deck and takeoff ski-ramp for MiG-29K fighters.