Defence-Economy: INS Vikramaditya

Under a contract signed in January 2004, Russia is to deliver to the Indian Navy its decommissioned 44,570-tonne aircraft carrier, Admiral Gorshkov, after refurbishing.

At the time of contract signing, press reports linked the Gorshkov deal to India's desire to lease a nuclear submarine from Russia.

The Gorshkov is to be inducted into the Indian Navy as INS Vikramaditya, as a replacement for India's INS Viraat, which is now 50 years old.

The contract was initially valued at $1.5 billion, with $964 million earmarked for Gorshkov refurbishment and $536 million for the complement of 16 MiG-29K fighter aircraft on board. The ship was to be delivered by 2008.

The ship is currently undergoing sea and user trials. It is expected to be commissioned into the Indian Navy in early 2013.

Admiral Gorshkov History

The Admiral Gorshkov was laid down in 1978 at the Nikolayev South shipyard in Ukraine, launched in 1982, and commissioned with the Soviet Navy in 1987 as Baku.

It was renamed after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

In 1994, following a boiler room explosion, the Admiral Gorshkov sat in dock for a year for repairs. After a brief return to service in 1995, she was finally withdrawn from service in 1996 and put up for sale.

Contract Details

The contract covers complete overhaul of the ship, which had remained docked at the Sevmash shipyard in northern Russia for the past 12 years, fitting a ski jump take off, and equipping it with modern weaponry, including MiG-29K Fulcrum aircraft and Ka-27 Helix-A and Ka-31 Helix-B anti-submarine helicopters.

At the time of initial contract signing, it was envisaged that following refit the carrier would remain seaworthy for 30 years. In April 2012, Vice- Admiral Ganesh Mahadevan, Chief of Material, IN, told the press that the warship would be 90% new with a life of 40 years.

The revised contract envisages changing the entire length of cables/wiring running into thousands of kilometres; delivering infrastructure machinery to support repairs and maintenance in Indian docks; training of personnel from Indian docks and personnel on board the aircraft carrier; Ten years of spare parts from the time the carrier is delivered to be handed over along with the vessel; repair and technical detail documents to support maintenance; and pilot training/trials comes as part of the package.

INS Vikramaditya Features

The aircraft carrier has a 273m flight deck to carry up to 20 MiG-29 fighters and up to eight Kamov Ka-28/Ka-31 helicopters.

Eventually, it would carry HAL Tejas trainer aircraft, Dhruv light helicopters, Kinzhal air defense missiles and Kashtan air defense gun or missile systems.

The ship will be operated in a STOBAR configuration, with a 14.3 degree ski-jump on the bow and three arrestor wires on the stern of the angled deck. This will allow the operation of MiG-29K and Sea Harrier aircraft. The maximum take off length for the MiG-29K on the Vikramaditya will be between 160--180 metres.

An added advantage of "Admiral Gorshkov' platform is its superstructure profile that has the potential to accommodate powerful planar or phased array radar systems with the "billboard style" antennae, which was first observed on the United States Navy's USS Long Beach, along with extensive command and control facilities to conduct an aerial campaign.

The ship is also projected to be equipped with a robust combination of air defence weaponry, such as a SAM and/or a CIWS.

Contract Renegotiations

In early 2008, Russia claimed it underestimated the scale and the cost of the modernization and said it would be able to deliver the ship in 2012 and at an additional cost of $1.2 billion.

India

termed the cost escalation exorbitant. After protracted negotiations, in February 2008 India agreed to pay an additional $800 million for the retrofit.

In November 2008, shortly after the Russian nuclear submarine Nerpa met with an accident, Russia demanded an additional $2 billion for the ship, instead of $1.2 billion.

"Construction of the ship will be completed in 2010 and tests will start in 2011, while in 2012 it will be transferred to the Indian Navy," said the director of Sevmash shipyard, Nikolai Kalistratov.

He, however, stressed that the ship would be handed over to Delhi only if it coughed up the additional money.

"The market price of such an aircraft carrier varies between $3 billion and $4 billion. The ongoing maintenance and upgrade makes up 60-70% of the new carrier's cost. This is about $2 billion," says Sergei Novoselov, deputy general director of Sevmash.

RIA Novosti quotes a source in Russian Defense Ministry as saying that if India failed to foot the bill, the carrier could be given to the Russian Navy.

"If India does not pay up, we will keep the aircraft carrier," he said. In early December, 2008, the Indian government cleared the MOD to renegotiate the price of the carrier with the Russians.

In January, a four day meeting was held in New Delhi between officials of both the sides. Later, a team of four officials left for Russia on Monday, January 26, to fix the final price.

In late May, 2009 it was reported by the Russian media that India and Russia have reached an agreement on a revised price for INS Vikramaditya.

"The negotiations were successful," Sevmash CEO Nikolai Kalistratov told ITAR-TASS. He did not specify the revised price.

In July 2009, a top Indian official expressed confidence that the renegotiated price would be pegged at $2.2 billion instead of the $2.9 billion demanded by the Russians

"We are confident the total cost for Gorshkov's refit will be pegged somewhere around $2.2 billion,'' said a top Indian official.

Old Price; $974 million

New Price: $2.2 billion

In August 2009 it was reported that India has released an additional $122 million for the refurbishments, adding to the $600 million that it had paid as advance on the deal. The total amount paid by India is now $722 million.

In early December, it was reported that negotiations for finalizing Vikramaditya new price are likely to extend to 2010.

Indian Navy owns responsibility for price hike

In end September 2008, in response to a RTI, the Indian Navy admitted it placed the $1.5 billion Gorshkov order without visual inspection!

"As per the contract signed in January 2004, the original package was drawn up based on visual examination in as-is condition wherein it was found that the majority of the equipment, systems could be repaired while the electronic equipment could be renewed," Vice-Admiral S P S Cheema with the Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy), wrote in his RTI response.

The Admiral went on to say "on opening up the equipment for a detailed examination and survey of the state of the hull structures, systems, cabling, etc, it emerged that these could not be repaired and hence would have to be replaced with new ones".

"These additionalities have resulted in the increase in project costs."

New Price Finalized

In early December 2009, during the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Russia, it was reported that the two countries have reached an agreement on the new price for the ship. However, the amount was not revealed.

In mid December, quoting Strategic defence magazine, IANS reported that the price had been finalized at $2.3 billion with Russia agreeing to install some additional onboard equipment as requested by India. The price was fixed under pressure from the PM's office before Manmohan Singh's visit to Russia, in order to maintain the strategic ties between the two countries.

Old Price; $974 million

New Price: $2.33 billion

The ship will be delivered in 2012.

Price Includes Blueprints, Trials

The price covers the refurbishment and trials, as well as includes $85 million for a complete set of blueprints that will allow the Navy to carry out repairs at Indian shipyards.

Revised Contract

During the visit of Russian PM Vladimir Putin to New Delhi on March 12, 2010, a revision to the original Gorshkov / Vikramaditya contract was inked pegging the new price at $2.33 billion.

Here is the statement to Parliament by Defence Minister Shri AK Antony on the price and delivery schedule revision:

"Contracts and supplementary agreements comprising repair and re-equipping, logistic supports, training, etc were concluded with Russian side for acquisition of the aircraft carrier, ex-Admiral Gorshkov, in January 2004 at a cost of US Dollars 974 million. The Russian side submitted a revised Master Schedule indicating a delay in the project and an increase in price for repair and re-equipping of the aircraft carrier, due to increase in scope of work not originally envisaged. The Government approved the proposal for conducting negotiations with the Russian side for finalizing a revised Repair and Re-equipping Contract and other related contracts/agreements affected due to delay in the project and Additional Works projected. The negotiations have since been concluded by the Contract Negotiation Committee (CNC). The revised cost of USD 2330 million has been approved by the Government. Prices for the works to be carried out under the revised contracts/agreements are fixed. The aircraft carrier was originally scheduled to be delivered in August 2008. The ship’s delivery is re-scheduled to December, 2012. Re-scheduling of the ship’s delivery and revision in its cost were necessitated due to emergence of Additional Works projected, detailed agreed scope of trials, etc".

Current Status

In Short: Expected to be commissioned by early 2013

During the induction of INS Chakra into the Indian Navy in Vishakapatnam on April 4, 2012, Defense Minister AK Antony told the press that INS Vikramaditya will be commissioned sometimes early next year.

It was earlier reported that the ship would be commissioned into the Indian Navy on December 4, 2012.

"The delivery will take place on December 4, the Indian Navy Day," Sevmash Shipyard Deputy CEO Sergei Novosyolov told the RIA Novosti news agency in January 2012. [via Hindu]

Mooring Trials

Mooring trials of the refurbished carrier started on March 1, 2011, as scheduled.

The trials are primarily focused on testing the main propulsion plant. Additionally, the electronics fitted on the ship, including Indian-made systems, and air-technical facilities on board are being tested.

Sea Trials

Sea trials of the ship are scheduled to start on May 25, Russia’s Sevmash shipyard said on April 5, 2012. [via Ria Novosti]

The ship will sail to the White Sea and then to the Barents Sea where it will stay for three to four months.

“After sea trials are complete, we plan to transfer the carrier to India by December 4,” Sevmash said.

At present, the Vikramaditya’s main power generators are being tested and the sleeping and living quartes are being fininshed. Crew training was completed in late March, Sevmash said.

Sea trials were scheduled to begin in November 2011 and be completed by December 2012.

However, it was reported in September 2011 that the sea trials have been pushed back to May 2012.

On December 22, 2011, Rusnavy.com reported that Sea Trials by Sevmash shipyard will start on May 25, 2012.

At a press conference held on board the aircraft carrier, a Sevmash official, Igor Leonov, said that before the start of the trials Sevmash will prepare the main propulsion plant of the ship.

"Preparation of main propulsion plan takes several stages; one of them is starting-up of turbines. We have rotated one of four turbines using steam taken from coastal source. In the next few days we're going to test second stern turbine, and late December or early January we'll test bow turbines."

"Second task is to start up all eight boilers. Steam test of the first one is scheduled on December 26. We're going to test others by the end of January. Diesel fuel for boiler heating has been already taken on board. So, late in January we can start testing of turbines with onboard-produced steam", said the official.

The crew will need to start living on board the ship 90 days prior to the commencement of the sea trials so Sevmash has a challenge on hand to ready 2,350 crew quarters!

For the first two or three weeks, shipyard's sea trials will be conducted in the White and the Barents seas, said A. Leonov. Flight operation testing will then follow and take 3 1/2 months to complete, no later than in Sept 2012.

Indian Navy acceptance trials will be conducted simultaneously with sea trials.

On completion of the trials in November 2012, the ship will return to Sevmash and be dry-docked in floating dock PD-50 for maintenance inspection. The aircraft carrier will be handed over to Indian Navy early in Dec 2012.

AIN Online reported on December 9, 2011 that a MiG-35D demonstrator (side number 154) fitted with an arrestor hook will take part in the sea trials, replacing the two-seat MiG-29KUB side number 951, which crashed at Akhtubinsk earlier in 2011. A single-seat MiG-29K side number 941 will also fly in the trials. It earlier flew trials on Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kutnetsov.

In addition to $2.2 billion for refurbishment of the ship, the Russians have asked for $600 million to conduct one year sea trials in the Barents Sea. India is reported to have reduced the cost by holding part of the trials in Indian waters.

Refurbishment Progress Reviewed

In May 2010 The Hindu reported that a high-level Indian defense team carried out a detailed inspection of Admiral Gorshkov to see the progress on its refurbishment.

Vice-Admiral Nadel Nirajan Kumar, who headed the Indian delegation, noted “positive dynamic in the works on the aircraft carrier” at Sevmash shipyards in Severodvinsk region, shipyard spokesperson, Yekaterina Pilikina, was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass.

She said the Indian delegation visited the warship and examined the refurbishment in detail.

Ms. Pilikina said the team was “pleased” to see the United Shipbuilding Corporation taking all efforts to keep with the work schedule that has been agreed to by both the governments.

Crew Training

The Indian Navy sent a 152-member crew for training on the ship in St. Petersburg, Russia in end March 2011.

The first batch of officers and sailors commenced their training in Russia to operate the ship, the IN announced on April 14, 2011.

"The first group of 152 sailors and officers commenced training in Russia to prepare to take over INS Vikramaditya (formerly Admiral Gorshkov) aircraft carrier. The team largely comprises technical crew for the warship," said Commander P.V.S. Satish, naval spokesperson.

Before leaving for Russia the crew underwent a three-month course in Russian language, he added.

The warship will be operated by a crew of 1,400, who will be trained in Russia in batches.

Defence-Economy

Friday, 18 May 2012

INS Vikramaditya

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