Indian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Russia hands India long-awaited aircraft carrier

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia on Saturday finally handed over a refurbished ex-Soviet aircraft carrier to India after a refit that overran by five years and went vastly over budget, damaging ties between the countries.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony took part in a ceremony at the Arctic port of Severodvinsk on Saturday morning, Russian news agencies reported.

Officials lowered the Russian flag on the ship and raised the flag of the Indian navy in its place. The wife of the ship's captain broke a coconut against its side.

Russia, which is India's largest arms supplier, carried out a major refit of the aircraft carrier, which joined the Soviet navy in 1987 as the Admiral Gorshkov. It has now been renamed the INS Vikramaditya after an Indian emperor.

Click to expand...

Franklin said:

I really wish that they stop referring to the Vikramaditya as a "super aircraft carrier".

Click to expand...

Franklin said:

I really wish that they stop referring to the Vikramaditya as a "super aircraft carrier".

[video=youtube;IqejF3sFtSw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqejF3sFtSw[/video]

Click to expand...

​

Yahoo News said:

Moscow, Nov 16 (IANS)

Russia handed over the refurbished aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya to the Indian Navy in a ceremony at the Arctic port of Severodvinsk on Saturday.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony attended the ceremony, Xinhua quoted arms exporter Rosoboronexport as telling local media.

The warship, previously known as the Admiral Gorshkov, is a Project 1143.4 or modified Kiev-class aircraft carrier commissioned by the Soviet Navy in 1987 and decommissioned in 1996 as it was too expensive to operate on a post-Soviet era budget.

India and Russia signed a $947 million deal in 2004 for the purchase of the carrier, but the original 2008 delivery deadline was delayed twice, pushing up the cost of refurbishing the ship to $2.3 billion.

India has already started taking delivery of MiG-29K naval fighter aircraft for the carrier.

INS Vikramaditya successfully completed its sea trails in July and aviation trails in September.

INS Vikramaditya's commissioning is being described as "a game changer" in naval circles, and is expected to project India's maritime power far beyond its shores. This is India's second aircraft carrier and the navy's biggest warship.

The aircraft carrier will be escorted by other warships during its voyage back home. It is expected to arrive in India by February 2014, Russian officials said.

Click to expand...

Reuters said:

(Reuters) - Russia handed over a $2.3 billion aircraft carrier to India on Saturday after years of delays, extending the South Asian country's maritime reach in the Indian Ocean as it looks to counter China's assertive presence in the region.

The handover, at a shipyard near the Arctic Circle, underlined close defence ties between Russia, the world's No. 2 arms exporter, and the world's largest arms customer, India.

The retooled Soviet-era ship was commissioned into the Indian Navy at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk, on the White Sea, in a ceremony attended by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, and Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony.

The ship, built in the final years of the Soviet Union and named the Admiral Gorshkov, will now be escorted by warships to India in a two-month voyage from Russia's northern coast. It has been renamed INS Vikramaditya.

A recent upgrade means that the carrier, originally designed to carry Yak-38 vertical take-off aircraft, has been requipped to carry Mig-29K fighter jets. It can carry up to 30 aircraft and will have a crew of around 2,000.

India signed a deal to buy the carrier in 2004 after a decade of negotiations. Its reconditioning was to be finished in 2009, but the price was increased and delivery postponed until 2012 under a new agreement, according to the Indian navy.

The handover was later delayed by another year.

India's first, British-built, aircraft carrier was bought in the 1960s and was decommissioned in 1997. Another ex-British carrier, the INS Viraat, is in operation but is reaching the end of its service.

India is on a push to modernise its mostly Soviet-era military, and plans to spend $100 billion in the next 10 years doing that. It buys about 60 percent of its arms needs from Russia, but has started a diversification drive recently.

China last year put its first-ever aircraft carrier, another retooled Soviet-made craft called the Liaoning, into service amid tensions with Japan over contested islands and a show of strength in the South China sea.

India launched its first domestically-built aircraft carrier this year, but it will not be fully operational until 2017.

Click to expand...

stack said:

I think the Russian Navy is sad to see Vikramaditya leaving them, for a while it was their "second" carrier crewed by Russian sailors and flying the Russian Naval Ensign.

Click to expand...

Russia will begin building new aircraft carriers after 2020, Russian navy chief Viktor Chirkov said on Thursday, in a major boost to Moscow's ability to deploy air power abroad.
“At the moment, the construction bureau has received its assignment, the documents are being processed, and the money for the construction program has been allocated,” Chirkov said.
If the plans reach fruition, it would be a major boon to the Russian navy, which currently fields only one aging aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov.
The Kuznetsov, part of the navy’s Northern Fleet, was built in 1985 and has been scheduled to undergo a major overhaul.
Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov first announced a plan in November 2011 to construct new aircraft carriers, RIA Novosti reported, but he also said at the time that the state had not provided enough financing.
Another former Russian carrier, the Admiral Gorshkov, was sold to India in 2005, refitted and renamed the Vikramaditya. It is currently undergoing sea trials in the Barents Sea.
Russia is currently in the middle of a huge rearmament program, with $659 billion to be spent on arms procurement by 2020 according to the Defense Ministry.

Click to expand...

Equation said:

Russia can always build another one.

Click to expand...