Russia snubs Delhi on obsolete carrier Admiral Gorshkov: Can India afford wasting $2.5 Billion (escalated tag $3 B)?

Posted on 02 April 2008. Tags: Aircraft carrier, Delhi, India, India afford wasting $2.5 Billion!, INS Vikramaditya, INS Viraat, New Delhi, Old Russian obsolete carrier, Russia, Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, Soviet aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov

India‘s buying spree has run into some serious hurdles. It had planned to spending $2.5 Billion on an obsolete Aircraft Career that even the mighty Russian Empire could not afford to operate. Moscow has jacked up the price several times and now it is around $4 Billion.

It would be worthwhile in this context to narrate Indo-Russian defence relations briefly. The relations dated back to the heydays of the cold war when the economic and defence capability of India, surrounded by hostile powers, was at a poor shape. The then Soviet assistance was timely. Its willingness to come closer as reflected in the friendship treaty of 1971 was noteworthy. Whether it was the establishment of heavy industries or the issue of securing national sovereignty and integrity, the Soviet assistance was phenomenal. In fact, India’s army would be unimaginable without the Soviet/Russian weapons. Intellibriefs

However recently the Indo-russian relationship has soured. Moscow has reneged on its promise to supply India with arms and equipment and has dragged its feet on the transfer of technology. $2.5 Billion or the $4 Billion spent on Aircraft Carriers will not make India a superpower, and any pretenses of this need to be nipped in the bud by the latest book on the subject by Paragh Khanna. “India has missed the boat” on that count.

Bharat is hemmed in towards the East by the Strats of Malacca by Chinese Naval bases in Burma and Hainan. Bharat cannot contol the Chinese, either from the East, the West or the South. India has only a few Boeing P-8 US-made Submarine Hunter planes and one decrepid and obsolete Aircraft Carrier. The declining Indo-Russian relationship leaves Delhi scrambling for new arms sources—but they come with strings. Delhi’s deal with Russia about an Aircraft Carrier will probably never go through. India: $3.2 for obsolete aircraft carrier while millions starve. The Indo-Russian relationship is not what it used to be. Russia elides India in Flanker Su-30 development.

The race is on. Both China and Bharat have started indigenous production of Aircarft carriers. In typical Indian fashion, the keel was laid with much pomp and ceremony. In typical Chinese stoic demeanor, the Chinese Aircraft Carrier in production is the subject of much speculation in the West and in Delhi. Delhi will get the first glimpse of the Chinese fleet of Aircraft Carriers when they sail from Gwader to Hainan. As Bharat waves goodbye to its hallucinating dreams of superpower status, the writing on the wall for Delhi is clear–the oceans surrounding Delhi are fast becoming Chinese Lakes. “Waving Goodbye to Hegemony” By Parag Khanna: Dawn of a multipolar world with China and Europe and maybe Russia.

India Left Naked: April 2, 2008: India’s sole aircraft carrier, the 29,000 ton INS Viraat, is going to spend the next 16 months in a shipyard getting maintenance and upgrades, leaving India with no carrier capability. This was to have been avoided by the timely arrival (this year) of the refurbished Russian carrier, the 44,000 ton Gorshkov, as the INS Vikramaditya. Under this plan, the INS Viraat was to be retired in 2012, after 53 years service (for Britain and India). But now the INS Viraat will get its engine and hull refurbished, and its electronics upgraded, and possibly serve for another decade.

Meanwhile, India has agreed to pay an additional billion dollars to complete the delayed refurbishment of the Russian aircraft carrier Gorshkov. The Russians not only demanded more money, but also admitted that a labor shortage would delay delivery until 2012. An Indian shipyard team will try to get the carrier out of the Russian yards earlier, and will also keep an eye on quality control.

The Russians have also admitted that the project also suffers from shoddy workmanship. The Indians have lots of experience with this sort of thing in Russian weapons, and will try to catch mistakes before the ship gets to India, hopefully in two or three years, rather than four. The Indians will also help with reconstructing the blueprints for the ship, which were apparently lost, and that contributed to the delay as well.

The new deal will cost $2.5 billion. This includes the purchase of the Gorshkov, and Russian shipyards performing repairs, modifications and upgrades. Another $800 is to be spent on aircraft, weapons and equipment. Building a Gorshkov type carrier today would cost about $4 billion, and take several years more. India is building another carrier, from scratch, but that 37,000 ton vessel won’t be ready until 2015.

The Admiral Gorshkov entered service in 1987, but was inactivated in 1996 (too expensive to operate on a post Cold War budget). The Indian deal was made in 2004, and the carrier was to be ready by 2008. But a year ago reports began coming out of Russia that the shipyard doing the work, Sevmash, had seriously miscalculated the cost of the project. The revised costs were more like $1.1 billion for the $700 million refurb. The situation proceeded to get worse, with Sevmash reporting ever increasing costs to refurbish the carrier.

The Indians were not happy, and at first insisted that the Russian government (which owns many of the entities involved) make good on the original deal. India sent its own team of technical experts to Russia, and their report apparently confirmed what the Russians reported, about shipyard officials low-balling the cost of the work needed. This is a common tactic for firms building weapons for their own country. It gets more complicated when you try to pull that sort of thing on a foreign customer. The Russian government will cover some of the overrun cost. The Sevmash managers who negotiated the low bid are being prosecuted.

Once refurbished, the Gorshkov, renamed INS Vikramaditya, should be good for about 30 years of service. That’s because, after the refit, 70 percent of the ships equipment will be new, and the rest refurbished.

However it is pedagogical to note that 2.5 Billion invested on India’s infrastructure and slum elimination programs would have made an impact on poverty. India’s irrational expenditure on these sorts of ornaments is not only mind boggling but reminds us of the folly of the “Wise Men of Gotham”.

NEW DELHI: Indian and Russian officials will meet in New Delhi next week to resolve the deadlock over the escalated price of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, now renamed INS Vikramaditya.

Russia had made a demand of $700 million more for the carrier which is being retrofitted at Sevmash shipyard.

New Delhi was stumped by the new price being asked by the Russians. The demand was made when a Ministry of Defence delegation was visiting Moscow earlier this year. The Russians claimed that it was non-negotiable.

Sources said it would be difficult to shell out such a big amount as it would mean that the carrier’s cost has been more than doubled since the contract was signed in 2004.

The delivery of the ship has already been delayed and demand for fresh money by Russians has only complicated the matter.

The original cost of the carrier with 16 MiG-29 K aircraft was around $1.5 billion. The final price now is expected to be $2.9 billion.

New Delhi is unwilling to pay $2.9 billion but it would find it difficult to walk out of the deal at this state. The Navy has already released a substantial amount of money for the works which have already been carried out.

Under the revised plan, the ship was to be ready for induction by 2012. But with fresh roadblock over the price, it is unlikely to happen. The government will have to take a call on whether to pay so much more for the aircraft carrier.

The final decision would have to be made by the new government which would be formed by May-June. Talks on Gorshkov deal next week. ExpressBuzz. Gautam DattFirst Published : 06 Mar 2009 03:17:00 AM IST

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