The Indian INS Vikrant aircraft carrier is facing serious issues with its crucial russian-made Resistor-E radar complex. It is responsible for controlling flight operations and ensuring safe landings of aircraft on the carrier.
According to correspondence from JSC Rosoboronexport, the agency in charge of russian arms sales, and Concern Radio-Electronic Technologies (CRET), which includes the Chelyabinsk-based manufacturer JSC NIIIT-RK, the issues with the complex are evident.
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The letter was made public after Rostec's archives were hacked by the Black Mirror hacker group. This is the second part of the documentation. The first part covers the sale of Su-57, Su-35 fighters, and Su-34 bombers to Iran, Algeria, and Ethiopia.
According to a letter dated September 5, 2023, India had found "serious shortcomings in the Resistor-E radar complex and the data exchange technical equipment complex." The letter states that the equipment is "crucial for the aircraft carrier to operate as intended."
According to the letter, "the elimination of shortcomings is possible with the timely delivery of spare parts, which is currently delayed," while the revised deadlines "go beyond the ship's delivery date." The Indian Navy drew the russians' attention to this during negotiations held from August 21 to 25, 2023.
The indication of this deadline is a very important point. russian military equipment has long had a reputation for poor quality, yet the INS Vikrant aircraft carrier had still not been delivered to the Indian Navy by August 2023.
INS Vikrant was officially handed over to the Navy on July 28, 2022, and officially commissioned on September 2, 2022, with the note that full commissioning would take place in 2023. This indicates that at the time the carrier was first commissioned, it was already experiencing issues with the key system enabling flight operations.
The first landing of the MiG-29K on INS Vikrant took place in February 2023, despite problems with the Resistor-E system. In November 2023, it was announced that INS Vikrant had achieved full combat readiness. This was just a couple of months after the date of the correspondence in russia, although it is unlikely that anything has changed with the Resistor-E system.
So, it is likely that Delhi was trying to create an illusion with its statements, knowing that the russian equipment was not operational. It is still unknown whether russia succeeded in restoring the Resistor-E system to working order, or whether Delhi's reported milestones — including the carrier's Final Operational Clearance (FOC) on December 3, 2024 — reflect the actual situation.
It should also be noted that Resistor-E is also installed on India's first aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya. Therefore, the entire combat capability of India's carrier-based aviation depends on this russian system.
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