After a long running saga of hard-nosed negotiations since the late-1990s, cost escalations, refit delays and mishaps, aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya has finally completed its extensive sea trials in Russia. The 44,570-tonne warship, or the refurbished Admiral Gorshkov, is now all set to be handed over to India in mid-November. Defence ministry sources on Tuesday said INS Vikramaditya has "now successfully" finished its series of "sustained full-power and aviation trials" in the White and Barents Seas. "The carrier will now head back to the harbour at Severodvinsk. It will then be made ready for the commissioning on November 15. It will reach Indian shores, with an Indian crew commanded by Captain Suraj Berry, in early-2014," said a source.
India has paid $2.33 billion for Vikramaditya's refit, instead of the original $974 million earmarked in the January 2004 contract under which the carrier was to be originally delivered by August 2008. India is also spending another $2 billion to induct 45 Russian MiG-29K naval fighters to operate from the decks of INS Vikramaditya and the under-construction INS Vikrant, which too has been delayed at the Cochin Shipyard till at least end- 2018.
Given the huge delays in both the projects, the Navy will continue to flog its old warhorse, the 54-year-old INS Viraat, which is left with just 11 Sea Harrier jump-jets to operate from its deck, till 2018. The delays have also derailed the Navy's long-stated aim to operate two full-fledged carrier battle groups (CBGs) anytime soon, as was earlier reported by TOI.
INS Vikramaditya was to be inducted into the Indian Navy by last December, as per the then re-revised time-frame but serious engine and boiler malfunctions during the trials delayed the delivery by another year.
With the Mumbai harbour not capable of handling INS Vikramaditya, the mammoth warship will be based at the Karwar naval base in coastal Karnataka, which has undergone its Phase-I development at a cost of Rs 2,629 crore. The government recently also approved the Phase-IIA expansion of Karwar, which gives India both strategic depth and operational flexibility, at a cost of Rs 13,000 crore.
The Defence Ministry today gave its nod for purchase of six more C-130J "Super Hercules" aircraft from the US in a deal worth over Rs 4,000 crore.
The Defence Acquisition Council headed by Defence Minister A K Antony cleared the deal and it will now go to Cabinet Committee on Security for the final approval, sources said.
The DAC also cleared a proposal for placing an order for 235 T-90 tanks worth Rs 6,000 crore with the Ordnance Factory Board. These battle tanks would be manufactured under the Transfer-of-Technology agreement India has signed with Russia.
The Indian Air Force already has six C-130J planes, which it had acquired at a cost of around 1.06 billion USD and are deployed at its Hindon airbase.
The new lot of six planes will be located at Panagarh in West Bengal, which would be headquarters of the proposed Mountain Strike Corps of the army along the China border.
The CCS had cleared the army's proposal for raising the Corps, which is expected to cost Rs 62,000 crore, in its meeting on July 17.
Like the first lot, the purchase of six more aircraft will be through the foreign military sales route between India and the US governments.
The aircraft is capable of airdropping commandos and material in darkness due to its night-vision imaging. It can prove very handy in wartime due to its ability for special air operations and transport of material and supplies.
During peacetime, it can be used in mountainous terrain in hostile circumstances. The four-engine plane with Rolls Royce engines has the technology and configuration to perform low-level precision flying.
It was recently used in rescue operations in flood-hit Uttarakhand.
