Article Posted on : - Sep 21, 2011

INS Vikramaditya. An Indian Navy photo

Brahmand News Service

MOSCOW: Work on Indian Navy's aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya is 85 per cent complete and it is set to enter the sea next month for trials.

A high level Indian Navy delegation led by Vice Admiral Niranjan Kumar, which visited Russia’s Sevmash shipyard to inspect the refurbishing work on the naval vessel, has “expressed satisfaction”, the shipyard said.

“The readiness of the ship is already more than 85 percent,” Kumar said, expressing hope that the Russian shipyard would complete the remaining work so that the ship could be commissioned in December 2012.

President of JSC United Shipbuilding Corporation Roman Trotsenko assured that the final stage of modernisation will be conducted with “great care” and with attention to quality.

“Today, the works are on schedule... I am sure that in December 2012, the ship will be delivered to the customer,” the Russian official said.

The Russian craft, named Admiral Gorshkov, which India is buying at a cost of around $2.33 billion, began mooring trials in March this year.

The 45,000-tonne warship is expected to be commissioned in the Indian Navy by 2012 or early 2013 and will be rechristened as INS Vikramaditya.

Meanwhile, a team of Indian Navy personnel which was in St. Petersburg, Russia has completed a six-month training on the refurbished vessel. The first group of 152 sailors and officers had begun their training in April.

A second batch of personnel would arrive in Russia next month to receive training, the shipyard said, adding that more than 1000 crew members will be trained by 2012.