Aircraft carrier Gorshkov, renamed INS Vikramaditya, completed all the critical trials earlier this week and Russia is likely to hand over the refurbished ship to the Indian Navy by the middle of November.
Manned by the Indian crew, the ship will set sail for India sometime in late December and will reach its designated base in newly developed Karwar port by end January for formal induction.
The $3-billion ship went through extensive acceptance trials for the last six months in the Barrant Sea in Russia with the Indian Navy crew closely monitoring the performance of the carrier. The 44,000 ton carrier also saw Mig-29 K fighter jet flying from the ski jump deck and all the flights were successful, sources said here on Tuesday adding two squadrons (45 jets) will ultimately be stationed on the carrier once it is operational.
The carrier was earlier scheduled to be handed over to the Indian Navy last year but a major fault in the boilers during long range sea patrolling at full throttle forced the engineers to have a re-look. Not willing to take any chances, the Russian engineers in consultation with the Indian experts decided to have a detailed review of the boilers and change certain critical components, they said. This process took about five months followed by sea trials to test all the functions of the ship and now it is ready for induction, sources said.
Defence Secretary RK Mathur had reviewed the progress of the refit of the ship during his visit to Moscow in the first week of September and urged the Russians to stick to timelines.
India and Russia had signed a contract for the aircraft carrier in 2004 wherein the platform came virtually free of cost but the repairs besides equipping it with a squadron of MIG-29Ks, Kamov anti-submarine helicopters and other sophisticated equipment amounted to more than three billion dollars.
Once operational, the ship will also have a squadron of naval variant of indigenously designed and developed light combat aircraft and long range surface to air missiles. At present, India has only one aircraft carrier INS Viraat and is likely to end its operational life in next seven to 10 years. India is building its first ever aircraft carrier Vikrant in Cochin.