You Get What You Pay For: India Reports Slew of Problems With Its Russian-Made Aircraft Carrier

Indian Navy reports problems with Russian carrier, aircraft

Reuben F Johnson

IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly

July 7, 2016

There are still a number of problems with India’s Russian-built Mikoyan MiG-29K/KUB aircraft, as well as with the aircraft carrier formerly known as Admiral Gorshkov that entered Indian Navy service in 2013, sources in India have told IHS Jane’s .

The complaints about the MiG-29K/KUB aircraft are generally due to the inability of the Russian firm RSK-MiG to deliver a complete aircraft that incorporates all of the features promised in the contractual documents signed by both parties.

Indian experts who have visited the test base at Goa, where flight training with the aircraft is conducted, report that the MiG-29Ks are being delivered to India in a substandard configuration. The aircraft, said one specialist who visited the Goa base recently, “are literally being upgraded and brought up to spec while on the flightline”.

The chief culprit in this dilemma, say both Indian and Russian specialists, are the combined embargoes enacted by the Ukrainian government that bar the export of any military-use items to Russia, along with the EU and US sanctions that prohibit the export of Western military components to Moscow. The ‘workaround’ has been for India to import these items directly, then have them integrated onto the aircraft on-site at the Goa base.

The MiG-29K for India differs from the MiG-29KR aircraft being built for the Russian Navy (VMF) in that the Indian-produced and foreign-made components are deleted in the configuration of the latter aircraft and replaced by Russian-made systems.

The Russian-supplied carrier, which has been renamed INS Vikramaditya , is a re-built and modified Kiev-class cruiser that has been converted into a fully capable short take-off but arrested recovery (STOBAR) aircraft carrier by Russia’s Sevmash shipyards.

INS Vikramaditya has its own shortcomings in that it is still not fully equipped for carrier operations. “One of the items still lacking is a proper emergency landing barrier for other-than-normal landings aboard the ship,” said one Indian specialist.