![]() Both aircraft carriers will also in time carry India’s indigenously designed LCA, or light combat aircraft. It will be joined, hopefully little more than a year later, by India’s first indigenously built aircraft carrier, a 37,000 ton ship, which, like the Vikramaditya, will be equipped with a STOBAR (short-takeoff, barrier-arrested design) and is slated to field a slightly smaller air wing of 12 MiG-29K Aircraft. Now that the price has been finalized, the Vikramaditya is expected to arrive in late 2012 or early 2013. The 44,500 ton ex-Soviet vessel, which is undergoing an extensive modernization, (70 per cent of the structure will be completely renewed) will carry 16 new MiG-29K aircraft, as well as an assortment of Kamov-28 and Kamov-31 helicopters. Indeed, it was announced earlier this year, shortly before Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit, that a price finalization for the future Vikramaditya had finally been reached. ![]() It would seem now, however, that Delhi’s long-sought quest for a three carrier force is at last edging towards fruition. The struggles and travails that the Indian Navy has encountered while doggedly pursuing this goal, what with the seemingly interminable negotiations surrounding the purchase and modernization of the ex-Admiral Gorshkov, and the chronic delays in construction of the IAC, or indigenous aircraft carrier, have become somewhat emblematic of the sometimes frustratingly ponderous rhythm of India’s naval expansion. This would enable Delhi, by rotating ships, to continuously protect both its flanks, since aircraft carriers regularly require long periods of maintenance at berth. India has long striven for a three carrier fleet comprised of one carrier battle group stationed on each seaboard, and a third carrier held in reserve. AFRICA, LATIN AMERICA, CARIBBEAN AND UN.Memorandum of Association: Rules and Regulations. ![]()
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