MOSCOW/NEW DELHI: Russia handed over a $2.3 billion aircraft carrier to India on Saturday after years of delays, extending the South Asian country's maritime reach in the Indian Ocean as it looks to counter China's assertive presence in the region.
The handover, at a shipyard near the Arctic Circle, underlined close defence ties between Russia, the world's No. 2 arms exporter, and the world's largest arms customer, India.
But while India remains Russia's biggest buyer, it has started to look to new military suppliers and aims to build more hardware itself. It has recently rolled out new military purchase rules to lure local private companies into the sector.
The retooled Soviet-era ship was commissioned into the Indian Navy at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk, on the White Sea, in a ceremony attended by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, and Indian Defence Minister AK Antony.
The ship, built in the final years of the Soviet Union and named the Admiral Gorshkov, will now be escorted by warships to India in a two-month voyage from Russia's northern coast.
It has been renamed INS Vikramaditya.
A recent upgrade means that the carrier, originally designed to carry Yak-38 vertical take-off aircraft, has been requipped to carry Mig-29K fighter jets. It can carry up to 30 aircraft and will have a crew of around 2,000.
India signed a deal to buy the carrier in 2004 after a decade of negotiations. Its reconditioning was to be finished in 2009, but the price was increased and delivery postponed until 2012 under a new agreement, according to the Indian navy.
The handover was later delayed by another year.
India's first, British-built, aircraft carrier was bought in the 1960s and was decommissioned in 1997. Another ex-British carrier, the INS Viraat, is in operation but is reaching the end of its service.
India is on a push to modernise its mostly Soviet-era military, and plans to spend $100 billion in the next 10 years doing that. It buys about 60 per cent of its arms needs from Russia, but has started a diversification drive recently.
China last year put its first-ever aircraft carrier, another retooled Soviet-made craft called the Liaoning, into service amid tensions with Japan over contested islands and a show of strength in the South China sea.
India launched its first domestically-built aircraft carrier this year, but it will not be fully operational until 2017.
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@ModiFied: And at least double the times fleet required to face Pakistan. India can't do anything about their inefficient fleet though!!
they can be not just indian but the whole world in watch porn only animals.
i am still waiting for ONE field where i can clap for pakistan.....just ONE field u know.....
@Crusader:
Those are Paki reports. No one trusts a word of Paki military. None of those claims are verified and acknowledged by independent international agencies. Keep day dreaming!!!!
@Crusader:
It's worth mentioning that some of the "successfully" tested Pak missiles often end up inside Iranian border. They have no clue where they go even if they might have the claimed range!
According to Pak (most intelligent country) u only need nuclear weapons to win war. That means USA and Russia are fools to produce and maintain these warships
@unbelievable: @netizen: Whenever India does something great in defense and science, Pakistanis cry about India's poverty. Good to have such caring neighbors. How about Pakistan who cares so much about India's poor people donate to these poor people ???
@Bullshit Buster!!!!: Hatf 4-Shaheen 1A, has a reported range of 2500Km-3000Km, and was successfully test-fired more than a year ago. This made intl' headlines and was in Indian news as well. Here are some links to debunk the myth. According to a statement issued by the ISPR, the ‘Shaheen 1A’ missile is an upgraded version of the ‘Shaheen 1’ with a longer range.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17836625 http://707monty.blogspot.com/2012/04/pakistan-army-successfully-test-fires.html
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3245091,00.html
http://dawn.com/news/713299/pakistan-successfully-test-fires-hatf-iv-ballistic-missile
@Lala Gee
The moment you use a nuclear device, whether tactical or strategic, India wins the war
@unbelievable: Same hold true for Pakistan.Forget Kashmir and start trade with India
@Lala Gee:
ROFLMAO........You mean your 60 km range truck mounted cannister haft missile?!!!
Pakistan does not, repeat DOES NOT, have any missile which has been tested beyond 720 km range. This has been confirmed by all international and US defense experts and intelligence agencies. After all China does not want a rogue neighbor going astray!!!!
I sense something (or someone) burning!
@Lala Gee, You obviously do not know anything about tactical weapons and strategic ones. Pak tactical missiles have rather short ranges. An aircraft carrier carries aircraft with an operating radius of around a thousand miles and if deployed with mid air refuelling can have their ranges extended. An aircraft carrier, a floating air field, is a force multiplier and even China recognised this eventually. There is a reason why the US has eleven of them. Since it is a floating platform, if kept away from the Pakistani aircraft ranges, it will be impossible to target by a single missile specially the Pakistani variety. I am sure Pakistan also desires to have one of those. Ask the PN.
@Lala Gee Yes, Aircraft carrier is a refurbished toilet something Pakistan neither have experience operating nor have the ability to afford it. And one more thing lol, no one has the tactical missile to target moving target not even USA. You should be more worried about the fact that India can tighten your screws in case of a war by blockading your ports.
LOL. India imported a refurbished toilet at the expense of US$ 2.3 billion. I'm sure, it won't prove its utility any further than that. Only a small tactical missile of ours would be more than enough to sink it in the deep crevices of the Indian ocean. Good to see Indians are happy on this waste of money.
@unbelievable: to Modified " Carriers are used to project military power far from your shores – last I looked China sits on India’s border." What an inane observation! Since US is bounded by the two oceans, it doesn't need any aircraft carriers, since none of its adversaries "sits" on its borders. Right? WRONG! Imagine if we were still in Nehru's "bhai-bhai" trance, we would not need an army even.
@M. Emad No point in bringing up 1971 war. INS Vikrmaditya is a matter of pride for IN. However, if you do your research well you will discover that PN Ghazi was sunk not by IN but by Pak Navy's own incompetence when the depth charges they were laying for IN exploded in their faces sinking the sub and killing everybody in it. This was revealed by a senior IN vice admiral many years ago in an interview with a newspaper. At that time of national victory, IN claimed the credit. I wonder if PN has any records of this? Any PN specialists here?
@unbelievable: Expected lifespan of INS Vikramaditya is 40 years from date 2013, same as other aircraft carriers. The reason for this is that there has been extensive structural work and refitting that has gone on. All of the engines on INS Vikramaditya are brand new and run on diesel unlike the older unreliable engines that ran on fuel oil.
Sourcing this aircraft carrier from Russia not only bolsters Indo-Russian relations at a time when some others such as Pakistan assumed that it was dead, but it also demonstrates how well integrated India is with the West in terms of geo-politics that companies based in the EU (6 X 1.5 MW Wartsila engines) and the US (Northrup Grumman Bridgemaster radar, etc.) have collaborated on this project. On the other hand China's only aircraft carrier Liaoning was bought in a hull-only form under deception from Ukraine with the promise to convert it into a floating casino.
@Indian Wisdom: It's home base is INS Karwar. However It may neither be placed in the Arabian Sea or the Bay of Bengal, but perhaps in the South China Sea. A Carrier Battle Group permits projection of power similar to owning an island in the ocean close to another country, so there is no point in it being in the vicinity of India.
Pakistan should forget about winning against India and accept India as overlord and concentrate on providing food to its citizens so that they don't go on dangerous ships as refugees.
@csmann: All these thoughts on universal brotherhood including our neighbours are good on paper but cannot be achieved on ground. We cannot trust either of our neighbour especially China who for unknown reasons has laid infrastructure of rail and road-head right up to the line of control and have indulged in several border violations. If we lower our guard, China would simply roll down their forces and occupy whole of Arunachal Pradesh, which has necessitated us to raise new Mountain Divisions as well as testing of long range nuclear missiles reaching heart of China. Naval prowess is also necessary to match China as we intend to conduct exploration in high seas close to Vietnam, but China is showing us its yellow teeth on this issue. However, trade with China which is touching one billion mark would continue as it benefits both countries.
Indian Navy sunk Pakistan Navy's 'pride submarine' Gazi in the Bay of Bengal in 1971.
good luck to India, its their money, their country and their planning and ways to spend it!
@unbelievable: If you want to go into the past, then CAG and Supreme Court; if you want to go into future then its science and technology. If you want to criticize, then past; if hope, future.
@lol: Don't believe in the yellow journalism of Geo. TOI and Geo have collaboration in many areas when it come to defaming the country and this has been proven time and again. A case in point is the recent report about Bol channel and report in TOI. Anyways the figure i gave with substantiated links are true, it depends on the people of any country to build pressure groups to stop the army and the government to control unbridled expenditure on Arms, which has no end. If the people keep on chest thumping and celebrating such events, which the govt/army actually wants and don't question the government about poverty HDI related issues and don't criticize the government, than this dilemma will keep on going. Pakistan spends only 2.6 percent of its GDP on Arms, and no one has heard of Army going into any big purchase with even bigger kickbacks of Arms here, need to be reigned in more with even less expenditure. This is open ended with no stop in sight, a no hope situation for millions upon millions of people on either side of the border.
No more comments just this:
@netizen: India has over the last few years launched massive anti-poverty programs through "Right to food", "Right to education" and "Right to employment". These three critical issues of nutrition, education and employment will empower poor people to become self-reliant. The government will be spending more than $125 billion annually on these programs which is more than any other development program of the federal government. Once these programs are implemented for an entire generation of @20 years, India will be poverty free by 2030.
hope one day,soon, India,Pakistan and China alongwith other nations in the region can have a European Unnon-like arrangement- a South Asian Union. May be we won't have a need for these toys then. Freedom from fear is the real freedom indeed.It is really a much better and brotherly interactions between Indian and Pakistani citizens when they meet in person,than what takes place and is portrayed on the media.Hopefully TV channels, radio and newspapers will realize one day what the common man thinks and feels,and preach peace, brotherhood and self-respect. Ameen!!
@netizen: african population is 1 billion genius...... indian poverty rate defined by world bank standard of 1.5$ a day is 400 million..... again pakistani data...... u know if u believe ur paki data..... then u should know that acc to BISP report 45% of pakis are poor.... in balochistan it is abt 60%.... give freedom to balochistan.... so that their miserable condition improves.....i was wondering how u r using interent if there's loadshedding in pakistan for 20 hours a day..... or is it the long durable battery??? or maybe u browse net so much coz u are affected by polio and cant move...... pakistan..# its magic... :D
@Truth detector: yes it would ... any person with little knowledge would figure abt that... but then of course u r a pakistani..... common sense pakistani.... its a paradox.... also it has electricity on board and gas for cooking in winters.... lol max :D
@netizen: at least we making progress somwhere..... at least somewhere... paki with a lot more crushing poverty and suffering from crippling diseases like polio which exist no where in the world are loosers and have not excelled anywhere..... tell me 1 place where u people are doing good job.... anyone field.... right from sports to infra...... health to education....film industry to gas and electricity loadshedding .... ur s is a pathetic and miserable condition...... u cant even run trains....... all u run is chukh chuk gaadi ... wo bhi many times late......i am still waiting for ONE good point .......primary schools of pakistan have pathetic enrollment ratio... children instead of going to school lean bomb making under mullah guidance......60% pak schools have no electricity.... 40% no water..... 55% no sanitation.... statistics by GEO news hamid mir..... 40% urban pak residing dirty filthy slums ..... honour killings,acid attacks. raping boys and girls...... if there is an opposite of PROGRESS then it is PAKISTAN...... talking about military budget it was pakistan recently who allocated 1/3 rd of total budget to military...... a beggar nation begging from IMF using it for military person... shame !! utter shame.. hey ET i want this posted if ur claims of maintaing neutrality are true....
From Russia with love
@Russian: what ARE aviation experts saying about JF-17. Could you please enlighten us, Indian?
@Truth detector: Don't worry, it has toilets and designed to be flushed out at the coast of karachi
My recollection is that carrier life span is about 50 years - if that's correct then this carrier has about 20 years left. Suspect the Comptroller and Auditor General of India might have been spot on when he criticized spending an enormous amt for a limited lifetime carrier. Gets even more expensive when you factor in the fleet of ships necessary to protect a carrier.
This aircraft carrier itself is half the total defense budget of pakistan in a year.More aircraft carrier on the way,nice.
Hope it has toilets on board!
finally..... but i feel we must reduce defence budget from 2.5% to 2% ..... anyway nice accomplishment......
What a sheer waste of precious resources, which could have been used for the eradication of poverty and misery for 60% of India's population. With more poor people than the whole of Africa, this is really deplorable. The appetite for expansion of naval fleet is never ending and the suppliers will always be having a field day.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10609407
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/10003228/India-has-one-third-of-worlds-poorest-says-World-Bank.html
@ unbelievable: "Strong trade ties with China is a better defense than aircraft carriers or nuclear submarines."
Trade ties alone do not guarantee peaceful relations. Have a look at China- japan relations. They have massive trade. However, the relations are still very tense. Mughal India had good trade relations with Britain and western Europe. Could that save India from British rule? Chinese respect only power and nothing else. Remember Mao's famous quote that " power flows from the barrel of a gun" ?
in today's world for defense puposes you need only one toy...everything else is a money waste.
This one is for both China and Pakistan with love,