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 Gulf of Aden frigate training Somalia India developments reforms opinion Borei policy procurements Russia - India aircraft carrier Crimea arms exports USA St. Petersburg France tests financing Bulava Yury Dolgoruky Serdiukov US Navy 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 anniversary Russia - France Rosoboronexport Vysotsky ceremony event Yantar Severomorsk defense order negotiations aircraft conflict China deployment naval aviation Putin Black Sea investigations Varyag coast guard Novorossiysk Vikramaditya landing craft crime Far East marines Severnaya Verf meeting scandals memorials traditions Syria South Korea Japan escort statistics Yasen Neustrashimy tenders Marshal Shaposhnikov Admiral Chabanenko convoys Ukrainian Navy problems Severodvinsk Chirkov reinforcement tension firings tragedy technology Baltic Sea Almaz Moskva frontier service search and rescue Caspian Flotilla hostages provocation upgrade court Dmitry Donskoy keel laying rumors Turkey World War II death Admiral Panteleyev Atalanta helicopters Kilo class shipwreck Petr Veliky Kaliningrad Admiral Vinogradov Norway Rubin launching patrols Russia-Norway
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