INDIA'S NEWEST AIRCRAFT CARRIER INS VIKRAMADITYA: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

Defence Minister AK Antony reached Russia last night for the commissioning of the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya today at the Sevmash Shipyard, Russia's nuclear submarine building centre.Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and senior government and naval officials of the two countries are also scheduled to attend the ceremony for handing over the aircraft carrier that may be a game changer for India's naval aspirations.Here is all you need to know about INS Vikramaditya:* The 44,500 tonne warship with a length of 284m will have MiG-29K naval combat aircraft along with Kamov 31 and Kamov 28 anti-submarine warfare and maritime surveillance helicopters.* The MiG 29-Ks will provide a significant boost to Indian Navy with their range of over 700 nautical miles, extendable to over 1,900 nautical miles, with mid-air refuelling, and an array of weapons like anti-ship missiles, beyond visual range air-to- air missiles and guided bombs and rockets.*To accommodate MiG 29 K fighters, a new 14 degree Ski jump was set up and strengthening of arresting gear area and runway was carried out. The steel work for carrying out structural modification on flight deck amounted to over 2500T:reportsIndian Express.* The INS Vikramaditya is the refurbished aircraft carrier formerly known as Admiral Gorshkov.* Indian Express reports: The carrier originally was a Kiev class aircraft carrying cruiser named 'Baku' that was constructed in Ukraine. The ship was never supposed to carry conventional fixed-wing fighters like the MiG 29 K, but was designed for Vertical Take off and Landing (VTOL) fighters. Commissioned in December 1987, the Baku was heavily armed with twelve Anti-Ship Missile launchers, ten gun mounts of differing calibre and rocket launchers and depth charges.*It was later renamed as Admiral Gorshkov and last sailed in 1995 in Russia, before being offered to India.* The carrier was finally retrofitted and upgraded at the cost of $ 2.3 billion.* The aircraft carrier does not have its own air defence missile system. The Barak missile was chosen by the Indian Navy to be fitted on board once it arrives in India to provide it protection from aerial attacks.*The Barak missiles are also in controversy in view of an ongoing CBI probe against them in connection with an alleged bribery scandal of 2006.* An escort group of warships has been sent to Russia to bring the carrier to India through a classified route to bring it to its home base in the Arabian Sea since it doesnot have any air defence systems on board to protect itself from aerial attacks.* A1,600-member Indian crew commanded by Captain Suraj Berry and a Russian surety team comprising 183 technicians will be aboard the ship as it sails to IndiareportsThe Hindu.The technicianswill reportedly stay back in India for a year.* "The Indian Navy, which always maintained its engineers and technicians on the vessel throughout the refit and modernisation process took the right decision to change many aggregates, components and entire cabling, instead of their repairs," said Chief Delivery Commissioner of Sevmash shipyard, Igor Leonov, who will lead the onboard Russian guaranty team during the Vikramaditya's almost two-month voyage to its home base on the Western coast of India in Karwar.* The Navy plans to bring the aircraft carrier to India and deploy it at the newly-developed Karwar naval base called Project Seabird.* After almost nine years of negotiations the initial $ 1.5 billion contract for retrofitting the aircraft carrier and buying 16 MiG-29K, K/UB deck-based fighters was signed in 2004.* Protracted negotiations followed, with the refit cost jumping from $400 million to $700 million. In January 2004, a $1.5 billion package deal was eventually inked, with $974 million earmarked for the refit and rest for 16 MiG-29Ks. Gorshkov was then to be delivered by August 2008: reports the Times of India.* By the end of 2007, when it became clear that Russia would not deliver the radically redesigned vessel by 2008 deadline, the relations dipped to an all-time low.* However, the two countries inked an additional agreement under which India agreed to pay a higher price for its refit.* In their private discussions Indian officials conceded that even with the cost escalation, it was a good deal, since a similar vessel would cost not less than double the price in the international market, but nobody aircraft carriers for export.With PTI inputs