INS Vikramaditya is a modified Kiev-class aircraft carrier operated by the Indian Navy, and until the commissioning of INS Vikrant in 2022 was India’s sole operational carrier. Originally built for the Soviet Navy, the ship gives India a heavyweight STOBAR carrier with a full MiG-29K air wing, and together with Vikrant now allows the Indian Navy to field two operational carrier battle groups.[1]
The ship was originally built as Baku, a Kiev-class carrier commissioned into the Soviet Navy in 1987. It later served the Russian Navy under the name Admiral Gorshkov before being decommissioned in 1996 following a boiler-room fire and the broader post-Soviet drawdown of Russian naval aviation assets.
India purchased the hulk on 20 January 2004 as part of a package deal that included the ship itself (transferred at nominal or no direct cost) alongside a costly, complex conversion and modernisation contract carried out at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk, Russia. The conversion essentially rebuilt the vessel from the flight deck down, adding a ski-jump bow, arrestor wires, and an entirely new aviation-support infrastructure to convert it from a hybrid cruiser-carrier into a dedicated STOBAR aircraft carrier. Cost overruns and repeated schedule delays made the programme one of the more difficult and expensive carrier acquisitions of its era.
INS Vikramaditya was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 16 November 2013 at a ceremony held in Severodvinsk, Russia. The carrier’s air wing was built around a purchase of 12 single-seat MiG-29K “Fulcrum-D” and 4 twin-seat MiG-29KUB carrier-borne fighters, procured in a deal worth roughly $1 billion, with an option for 14 additional aircraft. The ship achieved a full operational MiG-29K air wing deployment by May 2014, and was formally inducted with Prime Minister Narendra Modi presiding over the ceremony on 14 June 2014.[2]
Since induction, Vikramaditya has served as the flagship of the Indian Navy’s Western Fleet, undertaking regular fleet exercises, forward deployments, and multinational naval exercises alongside partner navies. As India’s only carrier for nearly a decade prior to Vikrant’s commissioning, the ship bore sole responsibility for sustaining India’s carrier-based air power projection capability throughout that period.
India’s Ministry of Defence signed a contract worth approximately ₹1,207 crore (roughly $145 million) with Cochin Shipyard Limited for a short refit and dry-docking of INS Vikramaditya, covering avionics and sensor updates intended to keep the carrier at an upgraded combat-capable standard. Following completion of the refit, the carrier is expected to rejoin the active fleet with improved systems.[3]
As of early 2025, the Indian Navy projected an operational life for Vikramaditya extending to 2052, but this is explicitly contingent on a critical structural audit scheduled for 2035. Should that audit find the hull unable to support continued safe operation, the Navy has indicated the carrier would instead be retired by 2037. A full life-extension programme, distinct from the smaller 2025-2026 refit, could cost roughly three times the current refit’s value if pursued.[4]
Vikramaditya remains a critical element of India’s two-carrier posture, providing operational depth, crew training continuity, and a proven MiG-29K air wing while the newer INS Vikrant matures and the Indian Navy plans its next indigenous carrier, IAC-2. Its eventual retirement timeline is a key input into India’s carrier-replacement planning through the 2030s and beyond.
| Type | Modified Kiev-class Aircraft Carrier (STOBAR) |
| Origin | Built as Baku/Admiral Gorshkov (USSR/Russia); converted for India |
| Converted By | Sevmash Shipyard, Severodvinsk, Russia |
| Air Wing | MiG-29K/KUB carrier-borne fighters, Ka-31 AEW helicopters |
| Commissioned (Indian Navy) | 16 November 2013; inducted 14 June 2014 |
| 2025-26 Refit Cost | ~₹1,207 crore (Cochin Shipyard Limited) |
| Projected Service Life | To 2052 (subject to 2035 structural audit; possible retirement 2037) |