India to have INS Vikramaditya completion timetable by the end of October, Russian official says
The approved timetable of refurbishment completion of the INS Vikramaditya will be handed over to the Indian side until the end of October, Interfax reports quoting Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.
"Works, listed in requirements specifications of India Ministry of Defense, are very serious and require a lot of attention. The specifications involve the installation of completely new systems and equipment, including those supplied by third countries. The problems identified in the sea trials, are related to it.
Rogozin noted that "new technologies always have shortcomings."
“If we would have delivered the ship in old configuration, there would never be any problems," Dmitry Rogozin said.
According to him, Indian experts and crew who participated in sea trials understand the problems the Russians encountered during the implementation of the carrier upgrade and refitting.
The contract for the modernization of the Soviet aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov at Sevmash Shipyard was signed between Russia and India in 2004. The carrier delivery was scheduled for 2008. But the delivery has been postponed several times with the upgrade cost soaring. On September 17, malfunctions were detected during sea trials. Seven out of eight steam boilers of the propulsion machinery were out of order. Because of this, the deadline of hand over this ship to Indian Navy has been postponed again until October 2013.