NEW DELHI - Russia delayed delivery of a trouble-plagued aircraft carrier for at least a year on Friday, a blow to India's efforts to quickly build up naval strength as increasingly assertive Asian rival China expands its maritime reach.
Originally built as the Admiral Gorshkov in the Soviet
Union, the $2.3 billion aircraft carrier is being reconditioned
and was due to be ready this year, but problems with the ship’s
boilers have pushed the delivery date back several times.
“We believe the handover of the ship will take place in the
fourth quarter of 2013,” Russian Defence Minister Anatoly
Serdyukov said at a joint news conference with his Indian
counterpart in New Delhi.
Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony said he had conveyed
“serious concern” at the delays to Serdyukov.
The bilateral meeting precedes a visit by Russian President
Putin to New Delhi on Nov. 1.
The ship is to be renamed as Vikramaditya and the success of
the order is seen as an important test of defence ties between
Russia, the world’s second-largest arms exporter, and its
biggest customer.
India, a big buyer of Soviet Union weaponry, still relies on
Russia for 60 percent of its arms purchases, but has diversified
its suppliers in recent years. Israel is now the No. 2 seller,
and countries like the United States and France also increasing
their presence.
“I myself expressed serious concern about the delay,” Antony
said, adding that the issue had been raised several times. He
said he was putting pressure on both sides to finish work on the
biolers as soon as possible, but said he had not discussed
penalising Russia so far.
India is closely watching the Chinese navy’s newly assertive
stance in the South China Sea and in a dispute with Japan over
contested islands that have raised tensions in East Asia this
year.
India bought its first, British-built aircraft carrier in
the 1960s, which was decommissioned in 1997. Another ex-British
carrier, the INS Viraat, is in operation but is reaching the end
of its useful service.
Last month, at a time of high tensions with Japan over the
islands, China put its first-ever aircraft carrier, the
Liaoning, into service.
Itself a reconditioned vessel from the Ukraine, the Liaoning
will be used mostly for training and testing ahead of the
possible launch of China’s first domestically built carriers
after 2015, analysts say.
Wary of China’s might, a host of south-east Asian nations
have ramped up their maritime defence spending.
India plans to spend about $100 billion over the next 10
years to upgrade its largely Soviet-era military equipment.
Apart from Vikramaditya, traditional India is also buying or
planning to buy stealth fighters, warships, nuclear-powered
submarines and tanks from Russia.
Serdyukov said that production of the fifth generation
stealth fighter, the Sukhoi T-50, which it is jointly developing
with India, is expected to start in 2020.
He said 1,000 units of the Brahmos supersonic cruise
missile, another joint venture, are being built. He said a new
faster version of the weapon, which can reportedly travel at
seven times the speed of sound, is being developed.
