Russia, India sign new Admiral Gorshkov deal.

12/3 Tass 397

NEW DELHI, March 12 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia and India have signed a new
deal on the Vikramaditya aircraft carrier (the former Admiral Gorshkov).

The ship will be delivered in 2012, and the price of the contract is
unknown.
"A new Admiral Gorshkov contract has been signed, and the price has
been coordinated. I cannot tell you this price due to our agreement,"
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said. "The ship will be
delivered in the end of 2012."
"We also signed a contract on the delivery of 29 Mikoyan MiG-29K
ship-based jets," he said. "These jets will be based not only on the
Admiral Gorshkov but also on other ships."
According to the intergovernmental agreement signed in New Delhi in
January 2004, Russia presented India with the Admiral Gorshkov's hull for
free on condition the ship would be modernized at the Sevmash shipyard in
Severodvinsk and equipped with Russian-made aircraft.
Russia will train about 1,500 crewmembers of the warship and create a
relevant infrastructure in the Indian Ocean. The contract was preliminary
estimated at $1.5 billion, including about $974 million for modernization.
The works were due to end in 2008. However, the enlarged work plan delayed
the commissioning until 2012-2013.
In case of appropriate funding, Sevmash will complete the
modernization and start trials of the Admiral Gorshkov in 2011. The
warship will have a service life of no less than 30 years.
The shipyard received $102 million in payment for the works in early
September 2009. The number of workers modernizing the warship will now
grow to 2,500, a shipyard representative said. The ship, which will carry
advanced armaments, MiG-29K jets and anti-sub reconnaissance helicopters
Kamov Ka-27 and Ka-31, is now ready at almost 80%.
Sevmash is the largest shipbuilding enterprise in Russia and the only
shipyard of the country, the main task of which is atomic submarines
building for Navy. The enterprise, occupying the area of more than 300
hectares, includes in its structure more than 100 subdivisions.
More than 25,000 people work on the basic enterprise of Severodvinsk.
From 45 surface ships, 163 submarines (among them 128 have nuclear
power units), have been built on Sevmash since 1939.
Civil production manufacturing is focused on the oil and gas projects
on the Arctic offshore zone. The building of the first Russian marine
ice-resistant stationary platform Prirazlomnaya - a unique construction
for work in the Pechora Sea - is entering into its final stage.
In February, 2006, a new type construction - marine semi-submerged
platform for Moss Mosvold Platforms AS company (Norway) - was laid out.
The priority project is objects manufacturing for Shtokman gas condensate
field in the Barents Sea.
Sevmash specialists also take part in construction of surface fields
of Russian North - manufacturing of industrial and accommodation modules,
equipment for oil production, oil and gas pipeline and other objects
inspection.
More than 100 civil vessels of different classes and purposes have
been built since 1990 (tugs, mini-bulk carriers, pontoons, barges, fish
farms) for foreign customers.
The contract on the delivery of 29 MiG-29K jets to India is worth $1.5
billion, and the deliveries will start in 2012, Sukhoi Corporation head
Mikhail Pogosyan said.
"We plan to fulfill the bulk of the first contract, signed in 2009,
this year," he said, adding that the contract implied the delivery of 16
MiG-29K to India.
The MiG-29K is a multi-role jet of generation 4++ intended to provide
air defense to warships, to ensure air supremacy and to destroy land- and
sea-based targets with high-precision guided weapons day and night, in any
weather patters.
The experimental jet made its first flight in January 2007, while the
first serial jet took off in March 2008.
-0-yer


Delete & Prev | Delete & Next