Addressing a meeting of senior navy commanders, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Friday reiterated the need for the country to be strong at seas and urged Indian Navy to be ready and vigilant to counter any challenge to defend India’s interests.
India is the world’s fifth largest economy and it is also the fastest growing major economy in the world and relies heavily on imported crude and natural gas through sea routes to meet its energy needs for rapid development of the country to eradicate poverty.
Development of a strong navy is imperative for the country to protect its maritime routes and is also in sync with India’s vision of SAGAR – Security and Growth for all in the Region – and to emerge as a an anchor of peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman onboard INS Vikramaditya, 08 January 2018.
Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman reviewed the combat readiness of the force, pace of modernisation and progress of various acquisition and infrastructure related cases.
She also appreciated the navy’s efforts in the area of indigenisation, self-reliance and support to the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the government.
She expressed her satisfaction at Navy’s initiatives to achieve ‘Digital Navy’ vision in line with the Government’s initiative of ‘Digital India Programme’.
Defence minister Sitharaman also appreciated Indian Navy’s diplomatic efforts to support the regional navies.
India’s aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.
Naval commanders’ conference reviewed the navy’s modernisation plan including induction of aircraft carrier, ships, nuclear powered submarines, conventional submarines, re-vitalisation of the aviation and sub-surface assets and induction of certain state-of-the-art weapons, sensors and equipment.
Indian navy commanders also evaluated the development of technical and support infrastructure for maintenance of these assets as part of ‘Indian Naval Indigenisation Plan 2015-30’, which was formulated for the indigenous development of equipment and systems for Indian navy over the next 15 years.
Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba discussed several issues related to operational readiness, capability enhancement, maintenance, operational logistics, infrastructure development and human resource management with senior navy commanders.
Navy chief Admiral Lanba also encouraged the navy commanders to implement innovative and modern ideas to achieve the aims and objective of the force.
