A model of the proposed design put on display at a Russian military show last year.
INDIA may be opening up the idea of an alliance with Australia and the US, but has just slapped the West in the face with a reminder of its non-aligned status: It’s likely to buy its fourth aircraft carrier from Russia.
While an indigenously designed aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, is in the late stages of construction, India is looking to leapfrog its grasp of related technology by purchasing a new vessel from a foreign supplier.
Naval architects from France, United States and the United Kingdom have been furiously touting their own designs and skills. But, according to the Izvestia daily newspaper, Russia has been told it is now the top contender.
India already operates a former Soviet Cold War Kiev-class carrier-cruiser, renamed INS Vikramaditya.
Leaving vessels such as the Royal Navy’s new Queen Elizabeth class in its wake, Russia’s ‘Storm’ proposal was first made public in June last year.
The carrier weighs some 100,000 tons and spans 330m by 40m. It is said to carry 90 aircraft, and can be propelled by either a nuclear or conventional power source.
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Russia’s Krylovsky State Research Center (KRSC), which designed the ship, boats it is capable of staying at sea for up to 120 days and can remain operational even among 9m tall waves.
But the real sweetener in the deal is the technology transfer Russia will permit with the purchase of the ship. This will enable India to improve its own design.
