Date Posted: 22-Jul-2011
Interview: Admiral Nirmal Verma, India's Chief of Naval Staff
Rahul Bedi Correspondent - New Delhi
The Indian Navy (IN) is evolving as a credible and operationally capable force that is looked upon as a regional "net security provider", according to Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Nirmal Verma.
It is envisaged that by 2025 the IN will operate 162 imported and locally designed platforms, including two aircraft carriers and conventional and nuclear-powered submarines. This means that the IN will be a significant stabilising force in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), said Adm Verma.
These assets will be supplemented by a "potent" mix of long- and medium-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, anti-submarine warfare helicopters, logistic support ships, landing dock platforms and a host of medium and small platforms for coastal and 'brown water' operations.
Adm Verma also said that over the next 15 years the majority of the IN's larger network-centric capable platforms will be fitted with indigenously designed combat management systems and advanced sensors that are capable of 'blue water' deployments across the navy's area of responsibility.
The remaining fleet, comprising minesweepers and offshore patrol vessels, will, along with the Indian Coast Guard, constitute part of India's newly formed coastal security architecture.
This new maritime security arrangement is headed by the IN and was created in response to the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
India's strategic and deterrence capabilities are based on a mix of nuclear weapons that are deliverable by air-, land- and sea-based platforms and this will be bolstered by the commissioning by 2012 of INS Arihant : the indigenously-designed ballistic missile submarine.
"The challenge is to field INS Arihant by 2012 and we are putting every effort into doing so," he said, adding that the nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) would be supplemented by a "few" similar vessels. "A single SSBN does not cater for a fully fledged [strategic] deterrent so we will have to work towards building that. Besides, having developed the infrastructure to build SSBNs, we must put it to good use," he said.
Adm Verma also confirmed that INS Vikramaditya (ex- Admiral Gorshkov ), the second-hand 44,750-ton Kiev-class aircraft carrier the IN is acquiring from Russia, will be operational by the end of 2012 providing it completes trials on time.
The IN is also acquiring 45 MiG-29 fighter aircraft, which will operate from the 37,500-ton indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) that is under local construction and is expected to be commissioned by 2014-15. Adm Verma said that the IAC's launch had been deferred from December 2010 to later this year due to a shortfall of gear boxes and generators.
The IAC's air group will include the naval version of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited's Light Combat Aircraft that was rolled out in July 2010, nearly three years behind schedule.
Adm Verma anticipated that the last two of the six Project 75 Scorpene submarines being built by Mazagaon Dockyard Limited in Mumbai could be fitted with an indigenous fuel-cell-based air independent propulsion system manufactured by the state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation, rather than an imported alternative.
While the IN remains dependent on imported Russian and Israeli missiles, the BrahMos cruise missile, developed with Russian help has proven "highly effective", according to Adm Varma. Although the missile is fitted onto several frontline platforms, he questioned the technical feasibility of equipping the IN's submarine fleet with these weapons.
Meanwhile, the IN is negotiating the purchase of four Boeing P-8I Poseidon multi-mission maritime aircraft with anti-submarine warfare capabilities as well as eight similar platforms ordered in 2009 and due for delivery from 2013. The service will also acquire 16 anti-submarine warfare helicopters to replace the ageing Sea King Mk 42 fleet.
"I need to sign the attack helicopter deal, which is currently under evaluation, in a few months but definitely before the end of the financial year in March 2012," Adm Verma confirmed.
The IN performs a number of military, diplomatic and policing roles, which enable it to effectively "shape its security environment within its areas of maritime interest", said the admiral. "Multitudinous security-related challenges in the IOR like piracy, terrorism, natural and man-made disasters and sea-borne trafficking in drugs, arms and human beings are all activities the IN is well equipped to handle through firm and constructive engagement," said Adm Verma. The IN is also engaged with maritime powers, including those in the IOR, to establish "mutually beneficial and supportive bilateral relations".
Over the past decade the IN has conducted exercises with, among others, the British, French, Russian, Singaporean and US navies and in 2008 launched the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium in New Delhi as a platform for achieving mutually beneficial maritime security, stability and collective prosperity.
Adm Verma was not duly concerned by the rapid expansion of the Chinese navy and its growing presence in the IOR, stating that the IN would never allow any "asymmetry [in capability] to develop".
Admiral Nirmal Verma. India's Chief of Naval Staff (Indian Navy)