Moscow: Russia will ask India to pay far more that originally agreed for a refurbished Soviet-era aircraft carrier that is already a year overdue, the firm overhauling the ship said on Tuesday.| I keep thinking we're going to be reading about this in 2015; the Russians will need another billion to finish the carrier and the Indians will fork it over ... |
"According to our calculations, verified by (Russia's) Federal Tariffs Service, all in all at least $2.5 billion is needed," he said. "All of us should make efforts to convince the Indian side that our calculations are absolutely objective," Kalistratov said.
"A new aircraft carrier of this class costs around $4 billion." Sevmash Shipyard was not immediately available for comment.
The Admiral Gorshkov, already renamed INS Vikramaditya, was first launched in 1982 and was decommissioned in 1996. The ship, smaller than US carriers and powered by steam engines rather than nuclear reactors originally carried helicopters and vertical take-off and landing aircraft. Russian engineers have had to lengthen the runway and build up a proper springboard to allow conventional warplanes to reach take-off speed.
| Still say we should sell them the Kitty Hawk for $1 plus the cost of refurbishing to be done in an American shipyard. |