A view of an aircraft carrier. Russia’s government is raising money to complete the upgrade of Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier that was ordered by India.
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Govt Tows Admiral Gorshkov
Russia’s government is raising money to complete the upgrade of Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier that was ordered by India. Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko has proposed to Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov to cover a portion of costs by another export contract. Simultaneously, India has been notified of the need to reconsider the Admiral Gorshkov contract in view of increasing its value.
Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko has addressed Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, seeking his help to sort out the problem of upgrading Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier. The delivery of the vessel has been put off by over three years, while the cost of the ship soared by $380 million “less potential penalty,” Khristenko told Serdyukov via a letter of August 22.
The contract is executed by Sevmash Production Association and it needs the government’s support to fulfill the obligations. The state could back up the enterprise by contracting it to construct two diesel-electric submarines of Project 636 ordered by a foreign client. Then, Sevmash will be able to transfer some funds “to offset money shortage” generated when re-equipping Admiral Gorshkov, Khristenko said. According to the sources, the two submarines mentioned by the minister have been ordered by Venezuela.
India got the hull of Admiral Gorshkov (renamed to Vikramaditya) free of charge in 2004 on condition that the aircraft carrier would be upgraded at Sevmash. The contract budget is roughly $1.5 billion. Of this amount, about $700 million is to be spent for the vessel, while the remainder will go to buy 16 MiG -29KKUBs. Shelving the dates of Admiral Gorshkov’s handover from 2008 to 2011 or 2012 is being currently negotiated.
In Military and Industrial Commission, they say Sevmash has promised to allocate roughly 2 billion rubles ($89 million) from the submarine contract to complete the upgrade of Admiral Gorshkov. But this amount won’t solve the matter. They need up to $1 billion in addition and the talks with India are underway to step up the contract budget.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 25, 2007
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