Moscow Mulls Purchase of Carrier Gorshkov

Moscow Mulls Purchase of Carrier Gorshkov

(NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW - November 18, 2008: The latest development in the saga that has been the modernization of the Admiral Gorshkov for the Indian Navy, Russian naval and defense industry officials have indicated that Russia may acquire the vessel if India is unwilling to provide the $2 billion needed to finance the extensive retrofit.

On November 13, Deputy General-Director of Sevmash (Severodvinsk Machine Building Enterprise) Sergey Novoselov told RIA Novosti new agency that, "On the market, the price of an aircraft carrier like that varies from three to four billion dollars. The renovations being done at the moment at Sevmash are worth 60-70 per cent of the cost of a new aircraft carrier. That's an approximate sum of up to two billion dollars. Of course, that figure needs refining."

"We are essentially constructing a new aircraft carrier at the open assembly berth of Sevmash. In the last two years, work has only proceeded thanks to internal loans. The construction of any vessel, especially one like this, needs constant and uninterrupted financing," he added, as quoted in the report.

When the contract for the Admiral Gorshkov was signed by Russia and India in 2004, the cost of modernizing the aircraft carrier was agreed at $617 million dollars, Novoselov said, adding that there was no-one to blame for the difference that has formed between the initial and current prices.

"If India won't pay the money, we will keep the aircraft carrier ourselves. It will be very useful to us, because the situation in the world is complicated. Vessels like that are needed to patrol the waters of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean," noted a Russian defense industry official. In such a scenario, Russia would have to compensate India for the money it has already spent on modernizing the vessel. "That's about 400 million dollars," the source said, as quoted in the RIA Novosti report.