Sale of Russian aircraft carrier may be "grounded"

MOSCOW, MARCH 9: Serious problems have arisen in the proposed sale of Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov,' which may not only change...

MOSCOW, MARCH 9: Serious problems have arisen in the proposed sale of Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov,’ which may not only change the parameters of the final deal between India and Russia, but also put the Indo-Russian military-technical cooperation under threat, writes daily newspaper Russkii Telegraph, owned by Russia’s powerful Uneximbank, known for its close links with the Kremlin.

Last December, India and Russia agreed, in principle, to sign the final deal for Admiral Gorshkov, after which Russia started pre-sale major overhauling of the aircraft carrier, at the shipyards of northern machine building enterprise Sevmash, according to the paper.

Nevertheless, the paper says, the parameters of the final deal, which India and Russia have already agreed to sign, are likely to be changed again. “It’s not excluded that in place of powerful arms systems, India buys from Russia only floating take off-landing strip for the cruiser,” the paper has quoted anonymous sources as saying.

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It is alsolikely that India may refuse Russian onboard aviation for the cruiser.

If this happens, the amount of the contract also will change radically. Practically, the arms systems on board a modern war-ship make about 60 per cent of the price.

According to Russkii Telegraph, Sevmash has already started dismantling Gorshkov’s main system of the arms-rocket complexes with anti-ship cruise missiles Bazalt’ (NATO equivalent is Sandbox).

India’s changing position is linked to the tremendous pressure from Russian competitors in the world arms market, the paper says quoting unnamed specialists participating in negotiations for the deal.

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Indian Defence officials started negotiations with their Russian counterparts on purchasing Admiral Gorshkov’ in 1994. The 44,500-tonne aircraft carrier was built in 1987 by the Soviet Union. It has remained in disuse, since it was withdrawn from service in 1995.

Meanwhile, Admiral Gorshkov’ is not the only source of new difficulties in the field of military-technicalcooperation between Moscow and Delhi, the paper says.

The long negotiation for Russian supply of major arms party to Indian ground troops, including automatic 1252-mm Howitzer MSTA’ and T-72 S tanks, may also end without any success for Russia.

In this connection, it has also alleged that currently India is secretly conducting negotiations for purchasing these equipment from Ukraine and the Czech Republic, Russia’s main competitors in this field.

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Moscow is especially worried because arms salesmen from the East European countries like Poland, Bulgaria and Slovak, and half of former Czechoslovakia are also reportedly attracting possible buyers with reduced prices on Soviet-designed military equipment. This seriously threatens the Indo-Russian military-technical cooperation, according to the paper, despite the fact that Russian military-industrial complex is currently building for the Indian Navy one more submarine of Kilo class and three frigates under Project 1135. Recently, Russia deliveredSindhurakshak’ submarine of Kilo class to India.