Another 4-5 year wait for the Indian Navy

NEW DELHI: The Indian Navy will have to wait for another 4-5 years before Admiral Gorshkov, the Russian aircraft  carrier, is inducted into its fleet as Moscow has been insisting  on revision of contract in view of price escalation and some refit work needed on the warship.

In a setback to the Indian Navy plan to acquire Admiral  Gorshkov after phasing out the indigenous INS Viraat, Russia last year shocked New Delhi by demanding additional 1.2 billion  US dollars for the retrofitting process on the aircraft carrier, rechristened INS Vikramaditya.
  
The two countries had signed the 1.5 billion US dollar  agreement for the purchase of the 45,000-tonne aircraft carrier on January 20, 2004, after hard bargaining and protracted negotiations which started in 1997.
  
However, Russia has failed to fulfill the commitment of handing  over Admiral Gorshkov to India by August this year as per the agreement and instead pushed back the delivery date to 2012-2013.
  
The Russians are citing recabling work of 2,400 km to be done  on the aircraft carrier and sea trials as the reasons for the huge price escalation to whopping 2.7 billion US dollars.
  
Initially, it was believed that Gorshkov would require new  cabling running into around 700-km in length. But, once the carrier was opened up, the figure got revised to 2,400 km. 
  
India cannot afford to pull out of the deal at this juncture as it has already paid nearly 50 per cent (500 million dollars) of the contracted amount.
  
The then Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov, who had  specially flown from Moscow to sign the 1.5-billion US dollar agreement with his Indian counterpart George Fernandes, had  stated that the Gorshkov deal incorporated life-time upgrades for the warship from the Russian side.
  
A lot of work was required to be done on Admiral Gorshkov  to convert it into a state-of-the-art carrier.
  
Initially, the aircraft carrier's flight deck was to be extended  and a powder type catapult installed for short take-offs and landings (STOL). The Russian side had indicated that all these alterations and improvements would take another four years or so.
  
Gorshkov was designed to carry several missiles but lacked full  flattop deck. The Russian designers soon began work to make it into  a true flattop. The obsolete equipment and weapons were dismantled and fuel tanks cleaned, fulfilling the pre-contract agreement.
  
With a sea endurance of 30 days and the capacity to carry more than 2,000 sailors and officers, Admiral Gorshkov was perceived as a real force projector for the country. Once refurbished, it would have come with 16 MiG-29K 'Fulcrum' supersonic fighters and a mix of Kamov KA-28 and KA-31 choppers. MiG-29K had a range of 2,300 km.
  
The refit work entails removal of huge missile launchers on  the bow to build a ski-jump at a 14.3 degree angle for MiG-29Ks.

The aircraft carrier is also to be fitted with new-generation air  defence and other weapon systems, new engines, eight diesel boilers with generators, electrical machinery, communication systems besides distillation plants among other things.

A high-level team, headed by Defence Secretary Vijay Singh, is  scheduled to leave for Russia on February 19, to verify the refit work on the warship and assess the 'actual' cost.
  
The Defence Secretary confirmed to UNI that he is leaving for  Russia with Director General (Acquisition) S K Sharma and other  senior officials from the Ministry to hold talks with the officials there over the issues of price escalation and refit work.
  
Indicating that India was ready to revise the contract upwards in view of insistence by Moscow, defence sources said a large amount of money would have to be incurred on sea trials of the  displacement carrier and the Russians may not have expected such a huge price escalation at the time of signing the deal with India.
  
"To some extent, their (Russians) demand is right. But, we have  to verify the extent. If the variation is far too much, the Defence  Ministry will have to seek the nod from the Cabinet Committee on Security before revising the contract," they added.
  
The sources hinted that India would be ready to shell out  another 500-600 million dollars to Russia for the carrier.
  
However, Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta had recently criticised  Russia for demanding a huge increase in the quoted price of Admiral  Gorshkov, asserting that India would go by the original agreement  over the aircraft carrier. 
  
"There is no question of re-negotiating the deal. There should  be no revision in the contract," he had said.
  
The Defence Secretary expressed the hope of 'positive and fruitful' discussions with the Russians. "I want to go and see the present status of the ship. I am hopeful of positive discussions with the Russian authorities. One of our teams is already there," he added.
  
Meanwhile, the latest issue of the Russian Information Centre's  newsletter said neither Russia nor India were satisfied with  Moscow's efforts to repair and re-equip Admiral Gorshkov.
  
"The ship's conversion into an aircraft carrier was a very  difficult and complicated operation. Many designing and technological decision made during the implementation of this  order have no precedent in shipbuilding. After identifying defects  in the warship, drafting a technical project and making detailed  engineering blueprints, the Russian side had to make substantial changes in the ship's design and conversion technology."
  
"It wants the aircraft carrier to have high combat qualities  and a long service life. This required a lot of additional work, which was not envisaged by the signed contract. This is why the schedule of work had to be changed, as well as the cost of repairs and conversion," it said.
  
During the upcoming consultations and talks, the newsletter said  the two sides would be able to agree on the changes and on the transfer of what practically amounts to a new aircraft carrier to the Indian Navy.
  
Quoting a military source, it said the two countries have started implementing joint projects to develop and produce a new generation aircraft and a multi-role cargo plane. 
  
The programme licensing the Indian production of the SU-30MKI  aircraft (NATO reporting name Flanker-H) and their AL-31FP engines was continuing, the newsletter said. The two sides have also  launched a project for licensed production of the RD-33 (series 3) aircraft engine.
  
Last year, the two countries signed a record number of arms  supplies agreements against the background of India's rapid economic development, it added.