India to ink Gorshkov deal soon
After the Hawk jet
trainer and the Phalcon radar deals with Britain and
Israel, India is all set to sign a long-pending deal
for the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.
India and Russia are
expected to finalise the $2 billion deal for the Admiral
Gorshkov, now decommissioned and berthed in a Black
Sea port by the end of the year, said officials involved
in the protracted negotiations.
The green signal for
the Gorshkov deal as well as several others in the
pipeline is expected during Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee's visit to Moscow from November 11-13 for
a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
From all indications,
the deal will be formalised during Russian Defence
Minister Sergei Ivanov's visit to New Delhi in the
third week of November, days after Vajpayee returns
from Russia, the officials said.
The purchase of the
45,000-tonne aircraft carrier has been hanging fire
since 1994 because the two countries had not been
able to agree on the price of refitting the ship according
to the Indian Navy's requirements.
Russia has offered
the ship "free" to India but wants $750
million to "retrofit" it. Besides, the deal
would involve the supply of 24 Russian MiG-29K aircraft
for $1.5 billion for being operated from the carrier.
The ship requires
an extensive overhaul to be made operational.
The Indian Navy currently
has only one aircraft carrier, INS Viraat, and has
plans to create a three-carrier force for its naval
aviation wing.
Almost 75 per cent
of the weaponry and hardware used by India's armed
forces is of Soviet and Russian origin and long-term
military-technical cooperation programme between the
two sides is estimated to be worth billions of dollars.
But countries like
Israel, South Africa and Britain are emerging to challenge
Russia's hitherto near monopoly in the Indian arms
bazaar.
Israel is close to
signing a $1 billion deal for the supply of Phalcon
early warning radars to India while Britain's BAe
Systems has got the nod for the supply of 66 advanced
jet trainers (AJTs) for the Indian Air Force at a
cost of $1.7 billion.
Recent reports suggest
that the delay in finalising the Gorshkov deal was
largely on account of haggling over the cost of refurbishing
the carrier, which has been berthed at a Black Sea
port since it was decommissioned from the Russian
Navy in the 1980s.
There were also reports
that Russia had linked the Gorshkov deal to the clearing
of other arms purchases by India.
New
Delhi, Sept 22, 2003 (IANS)
