New Delhi:
INS Vikramaditya - India's second aircraft carrier - is further delayed. The aircraft carrier, being purchased from Russia for US$ 2.3 billion or over Rs 10, 000 crores, is now likely to be given to India only towards the end of 2013, nearly a year after its scheduled delivery date. The delay will hurt India's efforts to quickly build up naval strength as an increasingly assertive China expands its maritime reach.
India's Defence Minister AK Antony made it clear that New Delhi views the delay very seriously; he didn't rule out seeking financial damages from Russia at a later date. "I have conveyed our concerns to Russia over the delay. The early delivery of INS Vikramaditya is the key concern of India. We have repeatedly conveyed this concern to Russia. All agencies involved in the trials and deliveries must work overtime to deliver the ship as early as possible," he said.
Addressing a joint press conference in New Delhi, Russian Defence Minister A E Serdyukou said that the ship's power-plant had "mal-functioned during sea trials" and had been sent back to the shipyard for thorough checks. "We have conveyed to India the new delivery date and hopefully the next sea trials will be carried out in April 2013," Mr Serdyukov said.
Admiral Gorshkov - a Kiev class aircraft carrier - entered service in 1987, but was deactivated in 1996. After years of negotiations, in January 2004, India and Russia signed a deal for an upgraded, reconditioned version. The ship was renamed INS Vikramaditya. Initially, India had contracted to pay US$ 800 million for the upgrade and refit of the ship and an additional USD1 billion for the aircraft and weapons systems, there were several cost overruns and delays in the delivery dates. According to recent estimates India will be paying a whopping US$ 2.3 billion for the carrier.
The Indian Navy, as of now, has a single carrier - the INS Viraat. With global economic activity increasingly shifting to East, the Indian Ocean region is seeing increased militarization. The United States has already declared that it will position more ships in the Asia-Pacific region.
India is also closely watching the Chinese navy's newly assertive stance in the South China Sea and in a dispute with Japan over contested islands that have raised tensions in East Asia this year.
"As of now, we want to ensure that we have at least one aircraft carrier available at all times to be able to carry out necessary force projections at any given time," a senior Navy official told NDTV.
India plans to spend about US$ 100 billion over the next 10 years to upgrade its largely Soviet-era military equipment. Apart from Vikramaditya, India is also buying or planning to buy stealth fighters, warships, nuclear-powered submarines and tanks from Russia.
Mr Serdyukov said that production of the fifth generation stealth fighter, the Sukhoi T-50, which it is jointly developing with India, is expected to start in 2020.
He said 1,000 units of the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile, another joint venture, are being built. He said a new faster version of the weapon, which can reportedly travel at seven times the speed of sound, is being developed.
(With reports from agencies)