NEW DELHI, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- As India's only aircraft carrier reaches the age of 50, there are reports the country is considering buying a yet-to-be-built British carrier.
The unconfirmed reports of a British purchase come as the military is losing patience waiting for its second aircraft carrier, the Admiral Gorshkov, to arrive from Russia now in 2012.
The Indian navy's sole carrier INS Viraat with its crew of 1,500 completed 50 years in service this week, according to a report by the Indo-Asian News Service.
Navy chief Adm. Nirmal Verma was in Mumbai port, formerly Bombay, visiting the 28,000-ton vessel that has just undergone an extensive refit at the Cochin Shipyard, according to a navy official. The refit increased the aircraft carrier's life until 2015.
Upgrades were done to fire control equipment, navigation radars, improved nuclear, biological and chemical protection and deck landing aids.
The INS Viraat operates up to 18 Sea Harrier combat jets and supports amphibious operations and anti-submarine warfare. It gives the Indian navy an edge over the Chinese navy, which does not have a carrier, the official is quoted as saying.
The Centaur-class carrier was originally commissioned in the British Royal Navy as HMS Hermes on Nov. 18, 1959. The Indian navy acquired it in 1987 and is now again turning to the Royal Navy, according to a report in the London-based Sunday newspaper The Observer.
One of two $3.36 billion aircraft carriers, still on the drawing board, could be sold off under cost-cutting plans being considered by the U.K. Ministry of Defense and likely to be laid out in a major defense review early next year.
The British carrier program has already been delayed by two years. BAE Systems began work in July on HMS Queen Elizabeth, due to come into service in 2016, and preparatory work on the Prince of Wales, due for launch in 2018, has also started.
The two carriers will replace Britain's three aging Invincible-class carriers, and are three times their size. Of the three Invincible-class vessels, HMS Illustrious and HMS Ark Royal are in operation. HMS Invincible has been decommissioned but is in reserve until next year.
Last summer British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy talked briefly about the possibility of sharing maintenance and refit contracts for their aircraft carriers.
Meanwhile, India has lodged a firm expression of interest for one of the 65,000-ton ships, the Observer said it has learned.
The Observer report comes as a 40-member Russian delegation arrives in India this week to thrash out a likely price hike for refurbishment of the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.
Both sides have "dug in their heels" on what they are willing to settle for, according to Indian media reports.
The Russians want $2.9 billion for the work on the 45,000-ton Kiev-class Gorshkov, set to be commissioned in the Indian navy as INS Vikramditya, originally in 2008.
India is willing to pay $2.1 billion for the work.
"What will matter now is who blinks first," a senior Indian navy official told the Indo-Asian News Service.
Delivery for the aircraft carrier is now set for 2012, and India has released about $650 million so far for the refit that is under way at the Sevmash shipyard on Russia's arctic coast. An agreement between the two countries in 2004 said the vessel was "gifted as free," but India had to pay $974 million for upgrades. That figure shot up in 2007 when the Russians said they miscalculated what it would take for the work. Another $700 million was recently added to cover extended sea trials that are now expected to be needed.
The unconfirmed reports of a British purchase come as the military is losing patience waiting for its second aircraft carrier, the Admiral Gorshkov, to arrive from Russia now in 2012.
The Indian navy's sole carrier INS Viraat with its crew of 1,500 completed 50 years in service this week, according to a report by the Indo-Asian News Service.
Navy chief Adm. Nirmal Verma was in Mumbai port, formerly Bombay, visiting the 28,000-ton vessel that has just undergone an extensive refit at the Cochin Shipyard, according to a navy official. The refit increased the aircraft carrier's life until 2015.
Upgrades were done to fire control equipment, navigation radars, improved nuclear, biological and chemical protection and deck landing aids.
The INS Viraat operates up to 18 Sea Harrier combat jets and supports amphibious operations and anti-submarine warfare. It gives the Indian navy an edge over the Chinese navy, which does not have a carrier, the official is quoted as saying.
The Centaur-class carrier was originally commissioned in the British Royal Navy as HMS Hermes on Nov. 18, 1959. The Indian navy acquired it in 1987 and is now again turning to the Royal Navy, according to a report in the London-based Sunday newspaper The Observer.
One of two $3.36 billion aircraft carriers, still on the drawing board, could be sold off under cost-cutting plans being considered by the U.K. Ministry of Defense and likely to be laid out in a major defense review early next year.
The British carrier program has already been delayed by two years. BAE Systems began work in July on HMS Queen Elizabeth, due to come into service in 2016, and preparatory work on the Prince of Wales, due for launch in 2018, has also started.
The two carriers will replace Britain's three aging Invincible-class carriers, and are three times their size. Of the three Invincible-class vessels, HMS Illustrious and HMS Ark Royal are in operation. HMS Invincible has been decommissioned but is in reserve until next year.
Last summer British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy talked briefly about the possibility of sharing maintenance and refit contracts for their aircraft carriers.
Meanwhile, India has lodged a firm expression of interest for one of the 65,000-ton ships, the Observer said it has learned.
The Observer report comes as a 40-member Russian delegation arrives in India this week to thrash out a likely price hike for refurbishment of the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.
Both sides have "dug in their heels" on what they are willing to settle for, according to Indian media reports.
The Russians want $2.9 billion for the work on the 45,000-ton Kiev-class Gorshkov, set to be commissioned in the Indian navy as INS Vikramditya, originally in 2008.
India is willing to pay $2.1 billion for the work.
"What will matter now is who blinks first," a senior Indian navy official told the Indo-Asian News Service.
Delivery for the aircraft carrier is now set for 2012, and India has released about $650 million so far for the refit that is under way at the Sevmash shipyard on Russia's arctic coast. An agreement between the two countries in 2004 said the vessel was "gifted as free," but India had to pay $974 million for upgrades. That figure shot up in 2007 when the Russians said they miscalculated what it would take for the work. Another $700 million was recently added to cover extended sea trials that are now expected to be needed.
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