Aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (former Russian aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Gorshkov) will be delivered to Indian Navy on Dec 4, 2012, reports ITAR-TASS referring to a source in defense industry.
“ The carrier’s sea trials will start on May 29, and in accordance with the contract terms the ship will be handed over to India on December 4 “, said the source .
As was reported earlier, sea trials of the carrier will take place in the Barents Sea within two or three weeks. Then will come 3-months of air wing tests.
The contract for modernization of aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Gorshkov (renamed into INS Vikramaditya) for Indian Navy was tied in 2004. It became the largest export contract in Russian-Indian military technical cooperation. Initially, modernization was evaluated as $616 mln, and the ship was planned to join Indian Navy in 2008. However, due to increased scope of works, the ship’s delivery date was postponed for 2012.
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Shipbuilding Tribune Staff, March 7, 2012