Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has urged the top leadership of Indian Navy to maintain their focus on futuristic capability development and to ensure that the nation’s maritime power grows in tandem with the nation’s economic interests.
Singh said this while addressing the senior leadership of the Indian Navy on the concluding day of the Naval Commander’s Conference on 28 April 2022.
MoS Defence Ajay Bhatt, Defence Secretary and other senior MoD officials were also present on the occasion.
He appreciated the Navy for having a visible, credible and responsive presence in the Indian Ocean Region and establishing itself as the ‘Preferred Security Partner’ and complemented the Navy for the successful rescue operations of Seychellois national at sea, the anti-Narcotics operations in Feb this year and deployment of the Navy’s Flood relief teams in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, according to a Defence Ministry release.
Speaking on the prevailing security environment in the world, Singh referred to the ongoing Russia and Ukraine conflict and stated that this has once again highlighted that being self-reliant without dependencies is a vital necessity.
He lauded the Indian Navy for being at the forefront of ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’ initiative of the Government and said that the Navy must continue to lead the way and remain a necessary guarantor of India’s Maritime Trade, Security and National Prosperity.
“Expressing happiness that out of 41 ships and submarines which are on order, 39 are being built in Indian shipyards, he said that it is important to leverage on the momentum that has been gained thus far and urged the senior leadership to maintain their focus on futuristic capability development, to ensure that the nation’s maritime power grows in tandem with the nation’s economic interests,” the release said.
Speaking about the progress of first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier and the successful completion of the three sea trials, the Defence Minister said that the delivery of, Vikrant, would be another milestone event and that all out efforts need to be made so that the ship is delivered and commissioned in the 75th year of our Independence, which would be a fitting tribute to the ‘AzadikaAmritMahotsav’.
According to the release, Singh also commended the Navy on commissioning of major Naval units since the last Commanders’ Conference namely INS Visakhapatnam, the first ship of the P15B project, the fourth P75 submarine INS Vela and Navy’s second P8I squadron INAS 316 at INS Hansa, Goa.
