INS Vikramaditya is a modified Kiev-class aircraft carrier acquired by India from Russia and commissioned into the Indian Navy in November 2013. Originally built for the Soviet Navy as the Kiev-class carrier Baku, later renamed Admiral Gorshkov, the ship was extensively rebuilt and converted from a hybrid carrier-cruiser into a dedicated STOBAR aircraft carrier before being handed over to India.[1] For over a decade she has served as the Indian Navy’s primary carrier and flagship, providing the backbone of India’s sea-based air power until INS Vikrant’s commissioning in 2022 gave the Navy a second carrier.
The ship was laid down in the Soviet Union in the 1970s and entered Soviet/Russian naval service as Baku, later Admiral Gorshkov, operating as a Kiev-class carrier capable of embarking both fixed-wing V/STOL aircraft and helicopters alongside a heavy surface-to-surface missile armament — a hybrid design typical of Soviet carrier doctrine, which unlike Western navies did not build carriers as pure aviation platforms.[2] By the late 1990s the ship had been laid up and was in poor material condition, having suffered a serious boiler-room fire that left it effectively unusable for the Russian Navy.
Negotiations between India and Russia over the carrier began in the late 1990s and culminated in an agreement signed on 20 January 2004, under which Russia would transfer the ship to India at no purchase cost, with India instead paying for its complete refit and conversion, plus the aircraft and weapons systems to be embarked.[3] The original 2004 estimate for the refit was around US$800 million to $974 million, with aircraft and weapons adding roughly another billion dollars.[4]
The refurbishment programme, carried out at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk, proved far more extensive and costly than either side anticipated: the ship required almost total reconstruction of its flight deck, removal of its forward missile cruiser weapons systems, and installation of a new ski-jump, arrester wires, and aviation facilities. Original delivery was targeted for 2008, but the project slipped repeatedly, and Russia progressively demanded higher payments, citing underestimated refit costs, eventually seeking as much as $2.9 billion before the two sides settled on a final price of approximately $2.35 billion following negotiations during a Russian presidential visit to India.[5] The saga became a widely cited cautionary example in Indian defence-procurement circles of the risks of large government-to-government refit contracts without fixed-price protections.[6]
During high-speed sea trials in 2012, seven of the ship’s eight steam boilers failed due to faulty thermal insulation material, causing a serious loss of steam pressure and propulsion — a setback that further delayed delivery and required additional repair work before the carrier could be handed over to the Indian Navy.[7] The ship was eventually delivered and commissioned in November 2013, nearly a decade behind the original schedule.
As converted, Vikramaditya displaces around 45,000 tonnes and uses a Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery (STOBAR) configuration with a 14.3-degree ski-jump bow and arrester wires, similar in operating principle to Vikrant. The original Kiev-class surface-to-surface missile systems and much of the forward cruiser armament were removed to extend the flight deck and increase aircraft handling capacity, transforming the ship from a hybrid carrier-cruiser into a more conventional fixed-wing carrier.[2]
The carrier is powered by eight steam boilers driving turbines that give a top speed of around 30 knots, with a complement of roughly 1,600 personnel including air wing crew. Its air wing is centred on the MiG-29K/KUB multirole fighter, supplemented by Kamov Ka-31 airborne early warning helicopters and Ka-28 or Sea King anti-submarine helicopters.[8]
For point defence, Vikramaditya retains AK-630 close-in weapon systems of Russian origin, and has embarked the Barak-1 short-range air-defence missile system supplied by Israel; the ship’s air wing and escort destroyers/frigates provide the wider area air-defence umbrella, including Barak-8/LR-SAM-equipped escorts test-fired alongside the carrier during trials in 2017.[9]
Since commissioning, Vikramaditya has served as the flagship of the Indian Navy’s Western Fleet and has taken part in numerous multinational exercises including Malabar with the United States and Japan, and bilateral exercises with other regional navies. In early 2023, she exercised jointly with the newly commissioned INS Vikrant in the Arabian Sea, the first time the Indian Navy operated two carrier battle groups together — a milestone realising the two-carrier posture that had been a Navy planning goal for decades.[10]
In November 2024, the Ministry of Defence signed a contract worth over ₹1,200 crore with Cochin Shipyard Limited for a short refit and dry-docking of Vikramaditya, aimed at restoring and upgrading key systems and extending the carrier’s service life.[11] As of early 2025, the ship’s operational service life since delivery stood at roughly a decade, with the Navy planning to keep the carrier in frontline service alongside Vikrant well into the 2030s pending successful completion of the refit.[12]
Despite its troubled acquisition history, Vikramaditya gave India carrier-based air power at a time when INS Viraat was approaching the end of its service life, bridging the gap until Vikrant’s commissioning and enabling the Navy to maintain at least one operational carrier through the 2010s. The ship remains a key asset for power projection and sea control across the Indian Ocean Region and continues to anchor India’s carrier battle group doctrine alongside Vikrant.[1]
The Gorshkov/Vikramaditya acquisition remains one of the most scrutinised defence deals in Indian naval history, criticised for the near tripling of costs from the original estimate, the near-decade of delay, and reliance on a single foreign supplier for a strategically vital refit. The 2012 boiler failures during sea trials further underscored the risks of converting an aged Soviet-era hull rather than building new, a lesson the Navy has since applied by strongly prioritising the indigenous Vikrant-class programme for future carriers.[6]
| Type | Modified Kiev-class STOBAR Aircraft Carrier |
| Displacement | ~45,000 tonnes (full load) |
| Speed | ~30 knots |
| Propulsion | 8 steam boilers, geared steam turbines |
| Air Wing | MiG-29K/KUB, Ka-31, anti-submarine helicopters |
| Commissioned | 16 November 2013 |
| Origin | Converted from Soviet/Russian Admiral Gorshkov (Kiev-class) |
| Builder/Converter | Sevmash Shipyard, Russia |