Indian Navy equipped to deal with threats

Growing by leaps and bounds in the indigenous development of nuclear submarine and an aircraft carrier, the Indian Navy has also acquired new cutting-edge technologies to deal with any challenge to our maritime security, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral D K Joshi has said.“Our crew is undergoing training to get acquainted with the new cutting-edge technologies,” he said at the Indian Naval Academy(INA), Ezhimala, on the sidelines of the passing-out parade of the 85th INA course on Saturday.

“There are not many countries in the world which have built their own nuclear SSBN (ballistic missile submarine) or aircraft carriers. It is a major achievement that the submarine project Arihant, India’s first nuclear propelled submarine, achieved criticality in August. The first indigenously developed aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, which was introduced in Kochi will be commissioned by 2017. Somewhere around during the same period another aircraft carrier, INS Vishal will also be commissioned. With the induction of these two aircraft carriers, our nation will emerge as a major maritime power,” Admiral D K Joshi said.“The issues that caused delay in the Scorpene Submarine Project or Project-75 to build six modern Scorpene submarines at Mazagon Docks, Mumbai, have been resolved and the construction of the submarines is in full swing now. They are expected to be inducted by 2015,” the Chief of Naval Staff said.

On the maritime challenges the country faces now, Admiral D K Joshi said that after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the Navy had been entrusted with the overall coordination of maritime and coastal security that involved various agencies ranging from Coast Guard, ports, state

governments and fishing communities. The coordination had improved considerably in recent years, he added.

The infrastructure situation had also improved with the setting up of coastal police stations in states.