India's Aircraft Carrier Sea Trial Postponed

Sea trials of the aircraft carrier 'Admiral Gorshkov' undergoing Russian shipyard refit, are postponed until June

Sea trials of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier being overhauled for the Indian navy at the Sevmash shipyard in northern Russia have been postponed until the beginning of June, the shipyard said.

The purchase of the Soviet-built Admiral Gorshkov was agreed in 2005 but delivery to India has been long delayed. The cost of refurbishing the aircraft carrier, to be renamed INS Vikramaditya, has since gone up from $947 million to $2.3 billion.

The vessel was originally scheduled to sail for trials in the White Sea and the Barents Sea on May 25.The delay could have been caused by poor weather forecast in the trials area next week.The delivery of the aircraft carrier to the Indian navy is expected in December 2012.