Russia has completed repairs on INS Vikramaditya, fixing the engine problems that caused a delay in the delivery of the refitted aircraft carrier to India last year.
“The Severodvinsk Shipbuilding Enterprise Sevmash has finished the repairs of the aircraft carrier Vikramaditya [Admiral Gorshkov],” the Interfax news agency reported on Friday quoting an official in the Russian Navy General Staff.
Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation has confirmed the report, adding that sea trials of the aircraft carrier would resume in summer.
During the sea trials last year the ship developed propulsion problems when insulation firebricks on the boilers started to fall out when the engines were run at full power. The repairs involved replacing the insulation lining between the boiler steel casing and ceramic firebricks.
Even though the problem has been fixed, the aircraft carrier cannot leave the shipyard till summer when the ice-clad White Sea reopens for navigation.
Russian officials said earlier that the aircraft carrier would be delivered to India in November 2013.
