Posted on 08/03/2007 7:43:32 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Admiral Gorshkov contract in jeopardy over lack of funds - paper
14:18 | 01/ 08/ 2007
MOSCOW, August 1 (RIA Novosti) - The overhaul of a Russian-made aircraft carrier sold to India under a 2004 contract will be delayed indefinitely due to insufficient financing and poor management of the project, a Russian daily said Wednesday.
The contract to deliver the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier to India, which state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport signed with the Indian Navy in January 2004, covers the modernization of the ship and equipping it with modern weaponry, including the MiG-29K Fulcrum aircraft and Ka-27 Helix-A and Ka-31 Helix-B anti-submarine helicopters.
The ship is undergoing modernization work at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk, in northern Russia, but its completion could be delayed for at least another four years, according to some reports.
"The aircraft carrier is being overhauled at the shipyard, but, unfortunately, the funds allocated for the work under the contract are not sufficient and we will have a hard time to meet the schedule," the Izvestia newspaper cited Eduard Borisov, the acting director of Sevmash, as saying.
"We are practically building a new ship using an old hull and changing everything else," Borisov said, adding that the company's management had earlier made an incorrect assessment of the modernization cost.
A high ranking source in the defense industry told RIA Novosti that the company's officials had underestimated the projected overhaul budget by at least 60-70% but had denied their mistakes for a long time.
He said the work already done on the Admiral Gorshkov could be compared to the construction of two destroyers.
"It would have been much easier to start the construction of an aircraft carrier from scratch than to modernize the old one," the source said.
Former director of the Sevmash shipyard, Vladimir Pastukhov, has been recently fired over his poor management of the project and some media reports suggested that prosecutors had been investigating a possible fraud case over mismanagement of funds by Sevmash officials.
Izvestia said Nikolai Kalistratov, the general director of the neighboring Zvyozdochka shipyard, could be appointed as the new head of Sevmash in the next few weeks.
The $1.5-billion Admiral Gorshkov sale is one of Russia's largest individual military deals with India. The two countries are currently working on military contracts worth $10 billion.
After joining the Indian Navy, the 45,000-ton aircraft carrier will be renamed the INS Vikramaditya and could replace the outdated INS Viraat, a Centaur-class aircraft carrier, which India purchased from Britain in 1986.
Huge island on this baby.
The Island is about right. It’s the ship that is too small
I really hope that the US government decides to sell India the mothballed USS Kennedy, which would drive China nuts.
Even better, when we decommission the Kitty Hawk, we should sell it to Japan. China would lose its marbles.
After India and Japan reverse engineered those two, it would mean that instead of China vying to be the #2 naval power, it would have to spend 10 times as much to become #4, with two enemy navies in its backyard.
I have a miuch better idea.
Why ‘rule’ via proxy?
Let’s simply annex Japan, upgrade Yokuska and Sasebo and
build what we’ll call the Honshu class carriers which will
be on permanent station in Nihonkai and environs. There
will be 6 of these badboys. They will be named:
USS Honshu
USS Hokkaido
USS Kyushu
USS Tokyo
USS Kyoto
USS Osaka
WAIT!!!!! We already have that arrangement! Its called
JAPAN! An unsinkable carrier. And you don’t even need
an arrestor hook to recover!
BTW, didn’t Russia sell China a carriet hull and superstructure
that was laid in the early 1990s????? And what new technologies
will the newset class of carrier (CVN 21 is it?) sport?
MV
Russia has sold 3 Kiev class carriers to China,which have either been scrapped or turned into tourist attractions,while Ukraine sold a more modern & larger ship,the Varyag.This is reportedly being converted by the PLA-N into a full carrier.
Yes, the Varyag!
Perhaps we could sell China out mothballed navy! That is
probably the largest navy in the world albeit in serious need
of retrofit!
MV
ping
Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
This is a medium volume pinglist.
It is because China outbid India.
You can't sink an airfield on land, but enough missiles will make it unusable. The point of the carrier is to be a moving target that's hard to locate and target
They’re actually very easy to find and target.
Outbid India on what?
Outbid India on what?
the US should sell India the John F. Kennedy...
India or anyone else can buy a US carrier if the US sends around 2,000 odd addl trained sailors,a couple of escorts & expands port facilities.All for free!!
The fact that Japan is an unsinkable “a/c carrier” creates a
VERY serious problem for, I am presuming, the Chinese.
Why? Simple geographics and the art of limited warfare.
Take a compass (like what you used in the 5th grade w/
the stubby little pencil) and a map of the Pacific rim. Now
draw concentric circles w/ Taipei at the epicenter. Draw
the first w/ a 100mi radius, then 200mi, then 300 mi and then
400mi. Repeat to the max distance of your choice.
Presumably, Beijing would want a limited war, ie, geographically
contained. Notice that targetting Oki occurs somewhere wi/ or
at about the 300mi radius. Trageting Sasebo takes us up to
the 500mi radius, Yokota more like the 900mi radius. Hardly
contained warfare. The distances are approx as the map I am
using is quite small.
What am I getting at? Look at what else lies wi/ those circles
wi the Chinese mainland. Whereas an a/c carrier task force
parked 400 mi east of Taiwan may be fair game, its hard to see
where targetting Oki and mainland Japan as well as Guam
would not lead to escalation to deep wi/ the Chinese mainland
based on a simple gepgraphy argument. After all, US power
projection would include points of origin in Yokota, Yakuska,
Oki and likely Guam. What? Its ok for you to hit my points
of power projection origin but I cannot hit yours just because
yours happen to lie 400+mi wi/ your borders? Something for you
to think about Mr Hintu.
MV
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.