Russia wants $2 billion extra for Gorshkov carrier

[Kitsune]

Does anybody have a newer version of Jane's fighting ships which lists a more detailed description of INS Vikramaditya than is in Wiki and might even include radar systems?

Also:
First off, how long would it have taken the Soviet government, when they were at their height, to convert a Kiev class VTOL carrier to a ship like the INS Vikramaditya is planned

Second, was there any plans to do just that towards the end of the Soviet Union?

[Sea Skimmer]

Also:
First off, how long would it have taken the Soviet government, when they were at their height, to convert a Kiev class VTOL carrier to a ship like the INS Vikramaditya is planned

3-4 years. Even if the ship was in tip top shape at the start of a conversion, work would easily take that long. A huge amount of equipment including virtually the entire armament would have to be torn out or repositioned before you can start the work of putting stuff back in, and major structural modifications are required, expanding the angled deck and enlarging the aft elevator.

Second, was there any plans to do just that towards the end of the Soviet Union?

The Soviets did come up with the conversion themselves, but had no plans to implement it, they had lots and lots and lots of plans for more warships when they collapsed. Instead the Kievs would have been upgraded by embarking a better air group, consisting of the vastly Yak-141 STVOL fighter which would have had real supersonic performance and worth a damn armament unlike Yak-36. Bizarrely Yak-141 was actually designed as a CAS plane for Frontal Aviation, not the Red Fleet. Yak-141 was canceled in mid 1991 and only flew enough to crash once, but some of its technology, mainly the swiveling main engine nozzle, was bought by Lockheed to help design F-35.

[Kitsune]

A large number of pictures:
http://pilot.strizhi.info/photos/v/Gorshkov/

Unfortunately, I have seen US Navy Auxiliaries being scrapped with far less rust than at least somes of the picture seem to show. The USNS Truckee, USNS Sagatuck, USS Hoist, and USS Sphinx for example......