New Delhi. The Russian government has loaned $ 250 million to the Sevmash shipyard to ensure that the rebuilding work on Gorshkov, aka Vikramaditya, continues without any interruption.

Although the Russian government has demanded an additional US$ 1.2 billion from India for the Gorshkov, it extended the credit to the shipyard, where the vessel is lying for 12 years, as an interim measure till an agreement with India is finalized.

The Russian government has also asked the yard to ensure that there were adequate personnel to continue the work on the ship. The Gorshkov project is important not only to maintain the good relations with the Indian Navy but it is also an exercise in reality checks now as Moscow has decided to build six large aircraft carriers for the Russian Navy in a resurgence of what was once the Soviet naval might.

Indian naval officials continue to be posted at the shipyard to monitor the work, and to make sure that it is in accordance with the Naval Staff Requirements, or specifications, drawn by the Naval Headquarters in New Delhi.

The Russian demand for more money is beyond the original contract, but the Indian government has agreed in principle to pay more as a gesture of goodwill towards an old and reliable friend. But how much, that is still being worked out.

Representatives of the Indian Navy and the Government regard the figure of $ 1.2 billion as excessive. An agreement though is likely in the near future and could be based apparently on how the Russians have itemized what they call the additional expenditure that they had somehow missed to calculate while signing the contract in 2004.

The original contract is for a little less than $ one billion, signed with the Russian arms trading company Rosoboronexport, under which the vessel was given free but India had to pay for repairs and also accept the Russian offer of ship-based Mig 29K aircraft, Ka-28 Helix-A Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) and Ka-31 Helix-B Electronic Surveillance helicopters and some onboard systems.

The Russians are delivering the Mig 29Ks from 2009 however, and Indian pilots would start training on them, initially in Russia and later in India. It takes roughly five years to train a pilot from the beginning, and as these aircraft would be available well in time, this would give the naval pilots ample opportunity to be fully operational on them and be ready from Day One when the aircraft carrier comes under the Indian flag.

Upon arrival in India, the Mig 29Ks would be based at the Indian Naval Base in Goa. Four of the aircraft are two-seat trainers and 12 fighters. Incidentally, the Navy also shares the Indian Air Force (IAF) training facilities.

There is an option for 30 more Mig 29K aircraft in the future, and the Indian Navy’s requirement should go up to nearly 50 Mig 29Ks. This had been stated by Admiral Arun Prakash when he was the Chief of Naval Staff in an interview with India Strategic in 2006.

The Navy is also acquiring 17 BAE Systems Hawk Advanced Trainer Jets (AJTs) but from the HAL which has commenced their licence production in India. The pilots would initially get trained on the Hawks, and then move on to the Mig 29Ks, or Harriers and other flying machines.

By 2020-25, the Indian Navy should have a mix of some 100 aircraft, half of them jet fighters, a dozen plus Maritime Reconnaissance aircraft like the Boeing P-8I, 17 Hawks, and a number of helicopters.

The electronics package on the Gorshkov is being designed to connect with other aircraft as well as ships and submarines, including the French-origin Scorpenes under construction. The exact weapons package, including the capability to fire the Indo-Russian BrahMos cruise missiles, will be finalized sometime later though.

Meanwhile, Russian officials have indicated that Gorshkov would be ready only in 2011, and after about one year or more of sea trials, it would be operational. That is, sometime in late 2012.

And that also means the aircraft carrier would play its operationally useful role with the Indian Navy only from then onwards, or maybe the beginning of 2013. That is, five years farther than the originally scheduled year of delivery: 2008.

The vessel is now 50 years old, but will still have a useful life of about 30 years after refit. It is actually one of the four aircraft carriers of the erstwhile Soviet Navy, the other three being the Kiev, Minsk and Novorossyisk. Due to the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Moscow had been unable to maintain them.

As for India, the Indian Navy ideally should have a fleet of five aircraft carriers – three on duty and two on rest and refurbishment – but has sanction only for three from the Ministry of Defence.

The Indian Navy is already building one vessel, known as Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC), to the modular designs of Italian firm Fincantieri and based on the Italian Cavour class vessels. There are plans to build a second IAC but a firm decision is yet to be taken although the Navy wants it by 2017.

One problem in this process is the local unavailability of special steel. For the carrier under construction, it had to be purchased from Russia.

Notably, an aircraft carrier is expensive to maintain for it needs constant and substantial ship, submarine and airborne escort to be operational as a Carrier Battle Group to hit an enemy far and wide. Nonetheless, With Gorshkov and the IAC becoming operational around the same time, the Indian Navy should have two CBGs fully operational by 2015, and a third possibly before 2020.