St. Petersburg’s Proletarski Zavod (Proletarian Factory) will supply arresting gears and breaking machines for the under construction INS Vikrant aircraft carrier. The Russian enterprise has already supplied similar equipment for the INS Vikramaditya, Yury Skorikov, the factory’s general director told Tass.
“A contract has been signed with the Indian side. We are making arresting gears for the Vikrant aircraft carrier,” Skorikov said. He added that the enterprise is now considering an agreement on post-guarantee servicing of the arresting gears that are already found in the Vikramaditya since the basic time period of the warranty has already run out.“We’ve already put braking machines on the Vikramaditya and are manufacturing them for the Vikrant aircraft carrier. Presumably the breaking machines for the Vikrant will be supplied in 2015,” Skorikov said.
The St. Petersburg enterprise also produces arresting gears for naval aviation pilot training complexes in Yeysk, Russia as well as in the Indian state of Goa. “Four arresting gears were delivered to Yeysk and the first machine has already been installed,” said Skorikov. “Deliveries were completed in 2013. Right now the equipment is being mounted.”
Proletarski Zavod is one of the oldest machine-building enterprises in St Petersburg. It specialises in marine and power engineering. According to its website, ship mechanisms, systems and complexes, that in certain cases do not have any analogues in home industry, are created at the factory.
The INS Vikrant is the first aircraft carrier built in India. The ship was “launched” in 2013 and construction is expected to be completed by 2016. The first ship of the Vikrant class of aircraft carriers is expected to be commissioned in 2018. Work is currently going on in the Cochin Shipyard in the Indian state of Kerala.The aircraft carrier is 262 metres long and 60 metres wide, and displaces about 40,000 metric tons. The deck will be able to accommodate 30 aircrafts and is expected to host MiG 29K and Tejas aircrafts, as well as Kamov Ka-31 aircrafts. India will keep a squadron of 17 MiG 29s on the INS Vikrant to protect its eastern seaboard. Russia will deliver the second squadron of aircraft meant for the indigenous aircraft carrier by 2015.
