January 17, 201214 yr From RIA Novosti [excerpt] Carrier Ready for India After Eight Year Wait13:17 17/01/2012 MOSCOW, January 17 (RIA Novosti) A Russian aircraft carrier which is being refurbished for the Indian Navy will begin sea trials in May for the first time in two decades and is to be handed over to India by December 2012, a shipyard official said on Tuesday. CV32: Perhaps 'more ready' would be a better description?
January 18, 201214 yr If its ready by December 2012, I'll eat my old dixie cup! The acceptance of India's carrier has been constantly pushed-back for about the last year. The slow progress on the INS Vikramaditya shows two things - Russia's shipyards are overbooked and their current materiel state makes them incapable of efficiently modernizing existing ships and cranking-out new hulls. This is changing. DCNS is helping Russia build a new yard in the region of St. Petersburg, so that Russia can build hulls 3 and 4 of the Mistral contract. Once that brain drain and technology transfer is complete, I think we could see efficincy pick-up. The one thing it won't help with is corruption. It's been estimated about 30% of all Russian defense funds evaporate dur to all the graft that takes place. FWFS, Greg Emerson, DM1(SW), USN-Retired Renton, WA, USA
January 18, 201214 yr Author If its ready by December 2012, I'll eat my old dixie cup! The acceptance of India's carrier has been constantly pushed-back for about the last year. Considerably longer than that. IIRC, the original delivery date was to have been in late 2008. The slow progress on the INS Vikramaditya shows two things - Russia's shipyards are overbooked and their current materiel state makes them incapable of efficiently modernizing existing ships and cranking-out new hulls. It also shows something else. Expect to be subjected to "price exploitation" (to put it mildly) the longer the project drags out.
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