Russia delays delivery of three stealth frigates: Antony

NEW DELHI (PTI): The acquisition of three Talwar class stealth frigates for Indian Navy from Russia has been delayed by one year to 14 months, government said Wednesday.

It also said the delivery of aircraft carrier "Gorshkov", which has been named 'INS Vikramaditya' is expected in December next year.

"Rosoboronexport (the Russian company) has intimated that the delivery of ships would be delayed by 12 months for the first ship, 11 months for the second ship and 14 months for the third one," Defence Minister A K Antony told the Rajya Sabha.

On delivery of arms from Russia, Antony said, "A contract was signed with Rosoboronexport in 2006 for acquisition of three Talwar class follow-on ships and the delivery schedule for these three ships was April 2011, October 2011 and April 2012."

In a written reply, he said that two major cases of shipbuilding project with Rosoboronexport, 'Gorshkov' aircraft carrier and Talwar class warships, have been delayed.

"The induction of Gorshkov was rescheduled due to additional works such as renewal of almost all equipment and systems, hull structures, cabling and application of long-life paint to afford greater protection to its steel plating and formulation of detailed scope of harbour, sea and aircraft trials," he said.

On Talwar class ships, Antony said, "The delays are primarily on account of non-availability of adequate skilled manpower at the shipyard to undertake concurrent construction of these vessels and the delays in delivery of Russian-origin equipment."

The issues relating to delay of supply of defence equipment from Russia are taken up in various bilateral fora such as High Level Monitoring Committee (HLMC), Indo-Russia Inter-governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGCMTC) meetings and in the Project Review Meetings, he said.

brahmand