India to Get Refitted Russian Ship in November – Official

KOCHI (India), September 25 (RIA Novosti) – A Russian-built aircraft carrier is to be handed over to the Indian Navy on November 15, and will reach India by February 2014, a senior official at the Russian arms exports monopoly said Wednesday.

The Vikramaditya carrier, which is already years past its original 2008 delivery date, was supposed to have been handed over to India in December 2012, but last year’s sea trials revealed that the vessel's boilers were not fully functional.

“We expect that Vikramaditya will dock at a Mumbai port by February,” Viktor Komardin, deputy head of the state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport, said Wednesday at the NAMEXPO-2013 naval exhibition in India.

Komardin said that the carrier would dock at 14 ports on its way to the final destination.

The carrier, renamed the Vikramaditya for India, was originally built as the Soviet Project 1143.4 class aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.