NEW DELHI, 21 January 2004 — India signed a $1.5 billion deal yesterday to buy a refurbished aircraft carrier and 28 fighter jets from Russia.
The agreement on the sale of the Admiral Gorshkov carrier and the aircraft was signed by officials in the presence of visiting Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and his Indian counterpart George Fernandes, they told a news conference later.
“It’s a pragmatic arrangement. India is buying what it needs, and Russia is selling what it can to reciprocal benefit,” said a Russian statement.
The aircraft carrier will be delivered to India by 2008, Ivanov told journalists when he arrived in New Delhi on Monday.
The contract for the aircraft carrier and the 28 Russian-made MiG-29k fighter jets had been negotiated for several years, but its signing had been repeatedly delayed.
The Indian Defense Ministry said the final decision was made by the Cabinet only on Jan. 17. India’s purchase of the old Soviet-era battleship has been controversial at home, where critics say it costs too much and the money should be spent on more modern equipment.
The Indian Navy has said that the price includes the carrier being refitted with new equipment, extending its life span to almost 40 years. Itar-Tass reported that the carrier’s flight deck will be elongated and a catapult installed for speedier takeoffs.
India already has an aircraft carrier, the INS Viraat, a former British-owned Hercules class vessel, which Britain used in the Falklands War. India has 140 other naval ships, including 14 submarines.
“It should be stressed that military technical cooperation between Russia and India ... is in no way designed to threaten other states,” said the Russian statement. “On the contrary it has a clear, positive, conservative nature, which should serve to maintain peace” in Asia and the world.
