Login

 

Forgot password?
Vote History of votings
Subscription

Modify subscription

submarines shipbuilding Black Sea Fleet exercise Pacific Fleet Russian Navy Northern Fleet strategy cooperation Ukraine visits Russia piracy missiles trials Sevastopol history Sevmash presence contracts drills Baltic Fleet industry incident anti-piracy shipyards training Gulf of Aden frigate Somalia India developments reforms opinion Borei policy procurements Russia - India aircraft carrier Crimea arms exports USA St. Petersburg France tests financing Bulava Yury Dolgoruky US Navy Serdiukov Mediterranean cruise Zvezdochka NATO innovations United Shipbuilding Corporation Indian Navy Medvedev Arctic agreements commission Admiralteyskie Verfi Admiral Gorshkov Mistral Vladivostok accident hijacking corvettes overhaul Admiral Kuznetsov Russia - France anniversary Rosoboronexport Vysotsky event ceremony Yantar Severomorsk negotiations defense order conflict aircraft China deployment naval aviation Black Sea Putin investigations Varyag coast guard Vikramaditya Novorossiysk landing craft Far East marines crime Severnaya Verf meeting scandals memorials traditions Syria Japan escort South Korea statistics Neustrashimy Yasen tenders convoys Admiral Chabanenko Marshal Shaposhnikov Ukrainian Navy Chirkov problems Severodvinsk reinforcement tension tragedy technology firings provocation frontier service Caspian Flotilla hostages Baltic Sea upgrade search and rescue Almaz Moskva court rumors Dmitry Donskoy Turkey keel laying helicopters Kilo class Kaliningrad death World War II shipwreck Admiral Panteleyev Petr Veliky Atalanta Rubin Admiral Vinogradov Norway patrols Russia-Norway launching
Search
Strategy strategy Combat Capability [42%], Role and Missions, Structure of the Navy, in-service ships, surface ships, submarines, chronology.
Our friends russian navy weapons world sailing ships
 
Tell a friend Print version

Home / News / News of the day

India might not get its Russian aircraft carrier

India might not get its Russian aircraft carrier 21.02.2008
The aircraft carrier “Admiral Gorshkov” has become the centrepiece of a military scandal in Russian-Indian relations. Now, Russia might end up not selling the vessel to the Indian Navy, after all.

The “Admiral Gorshkov” is currently under reconstruction at the Sevmash plant in Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk Oblast.

A source in the Russian military establishment confirms to RBC.ru that Russia and India currently are trying to re-negotiate an agreement from 2004, according to which India was to take over the vessel after an upgrade process in 2008.

The two countries might however not be able to agree about the issue. According to the defence source, Russian authorities demand that India pay about one billion USD extra for the vessel. India on the other hand demands the takeover of the vessel as agreed upon in 2004.

Should the parts fail to agree, Russia is likely to return the aircraft carrier to its Navy.

Russia and India in 2004 signed a contract on the Indian free-of-charge takeover of the vessel. Part of the deal was about 800 million USD upgrade of the vessel, to take place at the Sevmash construction plant in Severodvinsk.

The military order was to be fulfilled in the course of 2008. However, now the Sevmash plant says the aircraft carrier – now named “Vikramâditya” – will be completed only in 2012, and become more than two times more expensive than anticipated.

India is among Russia’s strategic partners and is said to have paid already more than 400 million USD for the “Vikramâditya”. Head of the Indian Navy Sureesh Mehta has previously said that India already considers the vessel part of its fleet and that it does not intend to renegotiate the contract with Russian Armed Forces.

The construction of the “Admiral Gorshkov” was started in 1978. The vessel was completed in 1986 after which it served only eight years before it was retired in 2002.

Source: www.barentsobserver.com, photo: The "Admiral Gorshkov" (sevmash.ru)

Back to the list