Article Posted on : - Jul 24, 2012

Aircraft Carrier INS Vikramaditya. Photo: Indian Navy.

MOSCOW (PTI): A Russian MiG-29 naval fighter jet has successfully made its first touch-and-go landings on Admiral Gorshkov, an aircraft carrier to be inducted in the Indian Navy, authorities have said.

The ship, christened as Vikramaditya, is currently undergoing sea trials in the Barents Sea off the north coast of Russia.

MiG-29 KUB, the two-seater jet, piloted by navy test-pilots Col Nikolai Diorditsa and Mikhail Belyaev, completed several approaches to the carrier last week before making a touch-and-go landing on Vikrmaditya, Ria Novosti reported on Monday.

The Vikramaditya is to be handed over to India after the trials after a much-delayed refit.

The ship was extensively modified to undertake STOBAR (short takeoff but assisted recovery) operations with MiG-29K naval fighter aircraft, as well as receiving new air defence, communications and navigations systems.

India and Russia had inked a USD 947 million deal in 2005 for the purchase of the carrier, but delivery has already been delayed twice, pushing up the cost of refurbishing the carrier to USD 2.3 billion.

The Vikramaditya was originally built as the Soviet Project 1143.4 class aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov. The ship was laid down in 1978 at the Nikolayev South shipyard in Ukraine, launched in 1982, and commissioned with the Soviet Navy in 1987.