Sevmash Expects Indian Inspection

 (Rusnavy) : High-ranking delegation of Indian Navy's Joint Staff headed by Vice Admiral Niranjan Kumar Nadella, chief of warship procurement department will visit JSC Sevmash shipyard on Sept 18 to inspect the course of works over INS Vikramaditya, told a source in the shipyard to Central Navy Portal.

Members of Indian military delegation will spend a week at Sevmash inspecting modernization process of the aircraft carrier; they are going to listen to the observation group's report and discuss problematic issues with Sevmash officials. It is planned to sign a formal document upon results of the coming inspection.

In July 2011 Indian Navy Commander ADM Nirmal Kumar Verma visited Severodvinsk during his official call to Russia; the admiral highly appreciated the works on the carrier.

Execution of the Russian-Indian aircraft carrier modernization contract is going on schedule. Apart from works on the carrier, Russian party conducts training of Vikramaditya's crew. On Sept 14, the first group of Indian servicemen – electricians and communication personnel – was awarded the Kuznetsov Naval Academy certificates after a half-year training course.

In accordance with package intergovernmental agreement signed in New Delhi in Jan 2004, the hull of Russian aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Gorshkov was handed over to India for free under condition that Sevmash upgrades the carrier and equips her with Russian-made aircraft. Also, the agreement provided training of 1,500-men crew in Russia and construction of carrier's basing infrastructure in one of Indian naval bases.