Recovery Period for INS Vikramaditya Determined

18.09.2012 To eliminate problems happened to aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (former Russian Admiral Gorshkov) being built for Indian Navy, Sevmash shipyard will need 6-10 months, a special panel was set to find out the reason of failures, said an insider in Russian defense ministry on Sept 17.

"The panel comprising representatives of United Shipbuilding Corporation, Rosoboronexport, Indian defense ministry and shipbuilding industry will begin inquiry into the accident reasons", the source told Interfax.

He pointed out that the ship was underway to Sevmash shipyard heading all alone.

"Disease is clear, as well as remedies", said the source.

According to him, it will take 6-10 months to eliminate the malfunction. "Sure, all those works will be done at Russia's cost", he said.

The interviewee noted that the problem was constructively put in the ship design as early as 2000 when the selection of steam boilers was in question. Traditionally, Russian shipbuilders use asbestos as thermal insulator for boilers, but Indian party wanted the ship not to contain asbestos materials.

A special boiler-design bureau replaced asbestos with another kind of thermal insulator, but had not performed all tests in full. As a result, at full speed insulation went out, and several boilers broke down.

According to the source, at low and half speed boilers operated normally.

The interviewee says some of eight boilers must be replaced now. He pointed out that the problems happened to seven boilers, but there is no need no change all of them.

Prior to that, experts of Sevmash shipyard refuted the media reports about seven boilers allegedly disabled on INS Vikramaditya.

"The information reported by one of media agencies about failed sea trials of the aircraft carrier is apparently exaggerated. So far, the ship has not returned to the dock. First conclusions will be made upon her arrival and propulsion testing", said the shipyard's representative.

As for him, the figures about number of broken boilers are "overstated" and conclusions about frustration of delivery date are "premature".

The interviewee pointed out that the organization responsible for the Indian contract was Rosoboronexport.

In its turn, press service of Rosoboronexport declined to comment the situation only saying that it was incorrect to talk about possible frustration of the carrier's delivery date until revealing of the failure cause.

As was earlier reported by Kommersant, Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov which is to change name for INS Vikramaditya after commission into Indian Navy, allegedly failed sea trials held in the Barents Sea. As for the newspaper, that will definitely affect the ship's delivery date.

According to Kommersant, during sea trials seven boilers went out of operation. "The accident will inevitably have an impact on the carrier's delivery date. By the most optimistic estimation, Indian Navy would receive the ship not earlier than Oct 2013", wrote the newspaper.