Russian-Built Aircraft Carrier For India Suffers Engine Problems Anew

Manila Bulletin
September 19, 2012

Moscow (dpa) - Russia's delivery to India of a $2.3 billion aircraft carrier is expected to suffer a new delay because of severe engine problems encountered during sea trials, Russian media reported on Monday.

Three of the eight steam turbines on the warship INS Vikramaditya failed during high-speed testing in the Barents Sea, and replacing them will take between six and nine months, the magazine Kommersant reported.

The ship was in the final stage of sea trials begun in July, and was to have been turned over to India's navy at the beginning of December.

A contributing factor to the turbines' failure was the use of a new Russia-designed ceramic brick as heat shielding which, at high engine temperature, cracked and in some places disintegrated, the Interfax news agency reported.

Russia's northern shipyard Sevmash is the main contractor for the project, which seeks to overhaul a upgrade a Soviet-era warship into a modern aircraft carrier for India.

The Vikramaditya will now return to the Sevmash docks, in the Arctic Sea port city of Arkhangelsk.

With repair costs estimated at more than $30 million, a Russian government commission is to investigate the engine problems.

Formerly a Soviet navy ship named Admiral Gorshkov, the INS Vikramaditya was sold to India in 2004. Delays and changes to the vessels' design have more than doubled the actual cost of the vessel.