Indian Carrier Costs Threaten Russian Arms Sales
by James Dunnigan
October 30, 2007


The $1.5 billion deal that sold the unfinished Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov to India, included a Russian shipyard performing $700 million worth of repairs, modifications and upgrades. Another $800 will be spent on aircraft, weapons and equipment. The Admiral Gorshkov entered service in 1987, but was inactivated in 1996 (too expensive to operate on a post Cold War budget). The Indian deal was made in 2004, and the carrier was to be ready by 2008. But a year ago reports began coming out of Russia that the shipyard doing the work, Sevmash, had seriously miscalculated the cost of the project. The revised costs were now more like $1.1 billion. The situation has since gotten worse, with Sevmash now saying that it will cost over $2 billion to refurbish the carrier. The Indians are not happy, and expects the Russian government (which owns many of the entities involved in this deal) to make good. Given that India currently has $10 billion worth of Russian military items on order, and has been Russia's biggest, and most profitable customer for military equipment for decades, the Gorshkov is looking to be an error of gigantic proportions. The boss of Sevmash, when the Gorshkov deal was negotiated, has been fired and is under criminal investigation, on suspicion of financial mismanagement. To make matters worse, the additional work required on the Gorshkov has caused Sevmash to turn down lucrative commercial projects (like offshore oil platforms.)

Just to add to the pressure, India is getting more interested in Western military equipment, including big ticket items like warplanes and ships. The Indians have grown tired of the poor performance of Russian equipment, and the poor service they often receive when it comes to spare parts, or fixing design errors. For decades, this was tolerated because Russian gear cost less than half what comparable Western stuff went for. Since India's major foe was Pakistan, which was equipped with equally shabby Chinese weapons, it all seemed to work out. But now many Indian generals and admirals, noting the high performance of American troops in the war on terror, are seriously considering the higher cost Western way of war.

Ne znam za druge ali zadnja recenica je meni komicna, pazi ,,veliki uspeh,,. 

Realno,pa kad njima treba 2 godine da remontuju nase migove.......sta reci dalje.Rusi imaju cudo od tehnike,al nikad nisu delili Hi end dostignuca.Uvek su prodavali obogaljene verzije svojih top lovaca,tenkova i sta ti ja znam.Cuvali su za sebe najace ,a drugima uvaljivali light verzije.E sad to je prolazilo dok se na trzistu nije pojavilo bolje resenje.Zasto bi neko kupio 5 SU30 kad za iste pare moze da kupi 3 F-35 avina.Rusi ne rade to u komercijalne svrhe(bar ranije nisu) vec da bi imali primata na tom trzistu.Kinezi su to lepo resili sa SU-27 cama.Kupili licencu od Rusa,a posle zvali Izraelce da im osavreme avione ......sto se i pokazalo bolje.AH64 kad je izasao ,on je ustartu bio narucen u 14 zemalja sirom sveta i ta prodaja je donela ogromna finansiska sredstva za daljim unapredjenjem tog aparata.
Rusi su cicije,klosari sto se tice prodaje savremenog oruzija......zato im i naoruzanje prolazi olako shvaceno.
Nikada se u istoriji(sem Koreje) nisu susreli 2 top aviona jer Rusi nisu davali svojim kupcima......dok Ameri jesu.F-15 vs mig 21......mislim sta reci....

Mislim da je veci problem tehnicka podrska i odnos prema kupcu, ameri tome pristupaju kao da prodaju automobil pa se trude da kupac bude maksimalno zadovoljan uslugom, kako pri kupovini tako i pri servisiranju i odrzavanju, dok rusi ipak malo kaskaju. Poceli su i oni da prodaju svoje vrhunske lovce, ali je podrska za njih jos uvek daleko od nivoa na kom bi trebalo da bude. Isto tako i kvalitet izrade moze biti problem. Retko se prica o problemima koje korisnici ruske tehnike imaju jer se to od nje i ocekuje, ali zato svako zakazivanje zapadne tehnike ima poprilican publicitet jer je to nesto sto se smatra nedopustivim za tehniku koja mnogo kosta.

Pa i Amerikanci su nekima "uvalili" problematicne F-16, zar ne? Rusi su znacajno podigli dugotrajnost svojih, pre svega avionskih motora..a mislim da nikada nisu prodali istu verziju aviona drugom kupcu, uvek je to bilo losije..cinjenica

Poenta je da su oni prodavali F-16 dok su Rusi u isto vreme davali samo MIG 21.

Ameri bi i majku prodali za dobre pare.......mozda je i bolje sto rusi ne prodaju svakome najbolje jel da ne zaboravimo kolko stvari su se amerima obile o glavu ,Bin laden pa sadam pa mudjahedini u avganistanu zar sve to  nije cia obucavala vrhunski pa sad pakuju vojsku u vrecama svakodnevno nista cudno da sad ako napadnu iran pa ih iranci pocnu obarati s tomcatima...

Pa niko od tih nije dobio vrhunsko naoruzanje i tehniku, recimo moderne borbene avione i sl. Oni ipak vode racuna kome ce sta da prodaju.

Prvo remont nasih migova ima veze sa "nasom" vladom a ne sa ruskom sposobnoscu da ih remontuju,a odugovlacenje sa nosacem je odavno povucena odkad je Putin dosao na vlast,nije lud da nekom proda nosac,to sto je pre njega gomila izdajnika delila rusko oruzije na sve strane za bilo koliko para to je druga stvar,nesto slicno smo i mi radili dok Ponos nije dosao i poceo da sastavlja ovu nasu raz@ebanu vojsku,i mislim da nije samo ovo u pitanju povukli su se iz gomile poslova oko prodaje tehnologije kini,iranu koje su ostavili gorbacov ona pijana budala i drugari...

Nisam upucen bas, iz kojih su se poslova povukli? Jesi li procitao gornji clanak, mislim da u ovom slucaju nije rec o ovome o cemu govoris vec o privrednom kriminalu (termin koji je kod nas zaboravljen, ne zbog nedostatka istog, naprotiv).

  Gledajte na to kao kad Ćale biznismen sinu uvali Golf 2, dok se on vozi Mečkom