Indian Newspaper Deleted Article Praising Vikramaditya Trials

05.10.2012 Indian nationwide newspaper The Hindu deleted from its website an article about aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya posted on Wednesday. Instead of the article, now there is a short post saying that the article "appeared in some early print editions of The Hindu was withdrawn because it was insufficiently sourced and potentially misleading".

General idea of the deleted material was positive towards sea trials of aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya recently held in Russia. As was reported by The Hindu, those trials "initially described as an embarrassing failure, appear to have been a success actually, and the propulsion problems developed by the aircraft carrier are not as serious as was reported in the media".

According to the author, the ship not just passed the trials but became "a full-fledged, highly capable aircraft carrier. The ship displayed excellent seaworthiness and maneuverability, and performed flawlessly during aircraft take-off and landing. Its sophisticated radio-electronic, navigation and other systems demonstrated high efficiency and reliability".

Although Indian editors promptly deleted that article, it appeared in early printed editions of The Hindu newspaper and was in discord with other press reports about frustrated delivery dates of the aircraft carrier which hit the headlines of Russian and some Indian media sources.

Russian participants of the notorious sea trials questioned by Central Navy Portal said the trials had been really successful. One of the insiders described how he had spent "108 days at sea" in his letter to editors. As for him, "the aircraft carrier has pretty good performance and maneuvering characteristics. Speaking of aircraft, things are okay too. Pilots said arresters were extremely perfect, and ski-ramp was very soft. We did complete flight test program. ...Don't believe what media says. The problem of boilers will be definitely settled ...After all, we have built a good ship".