Russia to demand more money for Admiral Gorshkov

The memory of the steep price escalation by Russians for the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov was still fresh in the memories of Indian defence authorities, and the latest snags experienced during the trials of the flat top carrier indicates that Moscow will up the price for warship once more.
 

The issue is expected to be at the forefront when Russian Defence Minister Anatoly E Serdyukov visits India next month. The Russians have informed about the glitches during the sea trials of the 44,570 tonnes Kiev class aircraft carrier, rechristened as INS Vikramaditya literally meaning “Brave as Sun”, to the Indian Defence Ministry.

Sources informed The New Indian Express that the Russians are building up case for another price hike for the second hand warship. “The Russians are claiming that it was the Indian Navy that insisted on bricks insulation for the boilers rather than the traditional asbestos coating and would therefore claim more in the name of dry dock maintenance,” added the sources.
 

The Indian Navy’s aim to operate two functional aircraft carriers at a given time suffered a second setback when after 90 days of sailing in the Barent Sea seven of the eight boilers of the warship did not function at its maximum power limit. According to the widely read Russian daily “Kommersant”, the seven boilers were damaged during the trial delaying the delivery of the warship by a year.

The Indian Navy, however, contended that the contract provides for leeway of 3-4 months in case of delay in delivery but beyond that the provisions call for imposing penalty if its delayed beyond it.

The acquisition of Admiral Gorshkov has been full of the price escalation saga. Offered as a gift to the Indian Navy in the beginning, the Russians had used the warship to arm-twist the Indian government to cough up more money that was used to bail out the cash-strapped Sevmash shipyard.  The contract was signed in 2004 for a package deal of $1.5 billion that included $974 million for its refit and the rest for the 16 MiG-29 K fighter jets. The initial delivery date was in 2008.

However project hit the headlines in 2007 when Russia said that it will not be able to meet its initial deadline of 2008 and pushed it back to 2010 and demanded upped the price to $2.9 billion. After years of strenuous price re-negotiations the deal was re-inked at $2.33 billion in 2010 and December 2012 was fixed as the delivery time.

However, the recent development indicates that the leviathan is going to miss its deadline once again.
 

Earlier, the indigenous aircraft carrier project suffered a two years delay when truck carrying important equipment met an accident. Both the aircraft carrier are crucial for the Indian Navy’s policy to gain maritime advantage in the Indian Ocean Region – spread from Gulf of Aden in the east to Malacca Strait in the west – as the force envisages to have one aircraft carrier each for its two coasts.

India plans construction of largest warship

Taking a cue from its first indigenous aircraft carrier programme, India is now envisaging construction of the largest warship in the country – a 65,000 tonne aircraft carrier named INS Vishal (literally meaning Huge) with the latest fighter jets and helicopters onboard.

The fighter jet is scheduled to enter the Indian Navy’s flotilla by 2025 and is presently in design phase.

“Taking a lesson from the delays faced in the construction of the first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier INS Vikrant, we (the Department of Naval Design) have already began working on the design of the next one with an added tonnage of 25,000 tonnes,” sources said. Where this sea leviathan will be constructed is yet to be finalized.

Initially, the second aircraft carrier was also planned to have 44,000 tonnage, but the Indian Navy put up a requirement for a flat top carrier with an extra 25,000 tonne displacement to make it a more potent platform.

Russian Sukhoi Su-33 and MiG-35; and indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (Navy) fighter jets are likely to operate from the aircraft carrier. “The aircraft carrier is likely to have Catapult to launch fighter jets mainly used in the US platform. So far the Indian Navy has operated ski-jump assisted launch of fighters,” the sources add.

The floating flying deck would also be capable to operate airborne early warning systems and mid air refueller aircraft. 

Sources indicated that the ambitious project would cost around $ 2 billion, which is less than that of Russian Admiral Gorshkov which is presently undergoing sea trials and will join the Indian Navy as INS Vikrmaditya by year end. India is paying $2.34 billion to the Russian for refurbishing Gorshkov.

“INS Vishal is envisaged to join Indian Navy sometime in 2025 when INS Virat will no more be in the service and INS Vikramditya and INS Vikrant would be guarding the eastern and western coastlines,” added the sources.

The first indigenous carrier is being built at a cost of $ 750 million in Cochin shipyard Limited. The aircraft carrier is already being delayed by more than 2 years and is now expected to be inducted in Navy not before by 2017.

Peep into Indian naval warships in Oman

Indian Navy's ships, including its lone aircraft carrier INS Viraat, are on their western deployment to Oman.INS Viraat will be opened for Omani and Indian nationals from 10am to 4pm tomorrow (June 22).

Visitors to the ship have to carry proof of their identity.

Visitors have also been requested to park their vehicles at Jibroo yard and collect coupons for entry into the port. Coupons will also be available on Indian School Darsait premises. Shuttle buses would be available for visitors to ferry them to the ships from the parking area.

India-Oman relations are exceptionally close, having reached the level of a strategic partnership and it is in this framework that Indian naval ships will be making a port call to Muscat between June 21 and June 23.

The ships coming to Muscat include aircraft carrier INS Viraat, stealth frigate INS Talwar and indigenously built guided missile frigate INS Ganga. These three ships are part of the Western Fleet of the Indian Navy. Captain AB Singh, VSM, Commanding Officer of the aircraft carrier INS Viraat is the Officer in Tactical Command for this Carrier Task Group.