The Indian Navy is the world’s seventh largest navy. It consists of two fleets, the Eastern Fleet, homeported primarily in Visakhapatnam, on the Bay of Bengal, and the Western Fleet, homeported primarily in Bombay, on the Arabian Sea. India enters the 21st Century with a small but formidable regional naval posture. Long considered a "blue water" navy, the Indian Navy faces major challenges as many of its major vessels near the end of their service lives. Indigenous shipbuilding efforts are struggling to achieve acceptable levels of productivity and efficiency. (Wg. Cdr. NK Pant) Its share of the budgetary allocation has never crossed 14 per cent of the total defence budget during the last half a century. Hence, it is not surprising that navy’s present strength has not seen any upward revision and remains same as was sanctioned as far back as 1964. The construction of strategic and prestigious Seabird naval base off the Karwar coast is hanging fire and may take a couple of years before it is completed. Moreover, the navy’s important combat projects such as building an indigenous air defence ship (ADS) and advanced technology vessel (ATV), a euphemism for the nuclear powered submarine have not been accorded the priority they deserved for funding.
One of the ADS Designs
As a result, plans to commission a new air defence ship (small carrier) might not be realised for at least a decade. This would upset India's plans of possessing three air defence ships in the next five years. While one could be the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, the Navy wants to build the other two `smaller' carriers (which would, however, be larger than the present carrier INS Viraat) in the country. (Commander Vijay Sakhuja). The indigenous nuclear submarine designated Advance Technology Vessels (ATVs) programme has been under way for almost two decades. It has made little progress. The ATV submarine is expected to be of 4,000 ton displacement, and four to five such vessels are to be built. According to the Russian Defence Ministry's official newspaper, Krasnaya Zevezda, Russia is assisting India in building the nuclear submarine, which is a copy of the new Russian Severodvinsk class attack submarine, currently under construction in Severodvinsk. No denying, in the recent past some laudable efforts have gone into to fill up the deficiencies of combat vessels like induction of indigenously built guided missile destroyers INS Delhi and INS Mysore. The government has also sanctioned the construction of three next generation Type17 frigates and two project 75 submarines.
The current Indian Navy submarine force is a mix of Russian and German origin boats. They belong to the Soviet Foxtrot (these will be retired soon) and Kilo class, and four HDW type 209/1500 boats (two built in India) of German origin. Reports suggest that, in 2001, India and France struck a deal to build French Scorpene-class boats (these are considered superior to the French supplied Agosta 90B to Pakistan) at the submarine production facility in Mazagon Docks, Mumbai. A thirty-year submarine construction plan upto 2025 aims at building an inventory of 24 submarines and boosting indigenous production. Future Indian submarines would incorporate stealth features and have the capability to fire missiles. The Indian Navy has shown interest in “Klub”, (codenamed SS-NX-27 by NATO) missiles for its submarines. The latest Kilo class submarine Sindhushastra, equipped with tube launched ‘Klub’ anti-ship missile, adds punch to the capability of conventional submarines.
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