INS Vikramaditya aviation aircraft carrier, during maintenance is seen at the Sevmash shipyard

A group of Russian technical specialists, which is assisting India in providing maintenance for the aircraft carrier Vikramaditya, has remained in the country hit by the Coronavirus pandemic

MOSCOW: Russian specialists continue providing maintenance for the Indian Navy’s aircraft carrier Vikramaditya, despite the Coronavirus pandemic, the country’s largest defence news portal, Indian Defence Industries, reported on Thursday.

A group of Russian technical specialists, which is assisting India in providing maintenance for the aircraft carrier Vikramaditya, has not left the country amid the Coronavirus pandemic. Despite the delays with the carrier’s acceptance for service, the Vikramaditya offers considerable possibilities for India’s Navy and allows the country to keep its supremacy in the Indian Ocean, the news portal said in its article.

Russia has become the sole country that can offer India an aircraft carrier and without its participation the Indian Navy would have been unable to get a warship of this class. As the news portal said, no other country has been able to offer India such major armaments as S-400 air defence missile systems and stealth frigates.

The aircraft carrier Vikramaditya is a heavy upgrade of the Russian aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Gorshkov. The work on the ship’s heavy upgrade was carried out at the Sevmash Shipyard. The flattop was delivered to the Indian Navy on November 16, 2013.

Under a package inter-governmental agreement signed in New Delhi in 2004, India received the Gorshkov’s hull for free but on condition of its upgrade at the Sevmash Shipyard and its outfitting with Russian-made aircraft.

After its upgrade, the Vikramaditya displaces 45,000 tonnes and features a modern flight deck and a ski-jump for aircraft take-offs, navigation and radar systems, communications and aircraft control technology and also other special equipment and assemblies. The warship can carry 30 aircraft, including MiG-29K fighter jets, Ka-27 and Ka-31 helicopters.