The Navy said in a reply dated September 22, 2009, on a Right to Information (RTI) request that it went ahead with the deal based on the “thought” that repairs would make the ship sea-worthy.

But it was only after the “equipment was opened up” later for a “detailed examination of hull structures, systems, cabling, etc” that the Navy found that entire replacements and not repairs were necessary for the carrier.

“As per the contract signed in January 2004, the original package was drawn up based on visual examination in as-is condition wherein it was found that the majority of the equipment, systems could be repaired while the electronic equipment could be renewed,” Vice-Admiral S P S Cheema with the Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy), wrote in his RTI reply.

He went on to say that later “on opening up the equipment for a detailed examination and survey of the state of the hull structures, systems, cabling, etc, it emerged that these could not be repaired and hence would have to be replaced with new ones”.

“These additionalities have resulted in the increase in project costs,” the Vice-Admiral said in his response to RTI applicant S C Aggarwal.

“Russian side has been intimated that the cost revision now proposed by them is final and no further additional ties will be accepted for negotiation. The same has been accepted by the Russian side,” he said, adding that the revised delivery date of the ship is in December 2012.

The Vice-Admiral stated that the carrier would be as good as new with a service life “equivalent of a new aircraft carrier” once the additional works are over.

He said that any statements to the effect that the carrier was an “old, outdated carrier is without factual basis”, while confirming that the ship would meet the requirements of the Indian Navy.

Replying to the question on how much a new aircraft carrier the size of Gorshkov would cost, he said: “It is not feasible to buy a new aircraft carrier commercially off the shelf”.

“A new carrier of the size of Gorshkov is likely to cost between 3 to 4 BUSD (billion US $) and that too understandably without spares, training, infrastructure and documents cost,” he said, refusing to delve further by citing that such information would be prejudicial to state interests.

Asked about the life-span of Gorshkov, Public Information Officer and Commander-At-Arms S K Gupta referred to the Internet in his reply that “a modern-day aircraft carrier has a life span of 30 to 40 years with regular refits and routine maintenance”.

“Existing contract stipulates the ship’s (Gorshkov) service life span to be a minimum of 20 years. Preliminary study shows that the lifespan after additional works is likely to be beyond 40 years,” Gupta said in his separate reply.