Stealth guided missile frigate Vindhyagiri was launched at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers
Indian Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar has dismissed conversation about competition with China when it comes to the fleet-building capacity and plans of the Indian Navy.
"When we build a navy, we build it to secure our own national interest. We don't build it to compete with any other country. It's a question of maritime national interest that we have that we need to protect, preserve and promote," Admiral Hari Kumar told reporters in Kolkata on the sidelines of the launch of the stealth guided missile frigate Vindhyagiri at the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers.
"We have a maritime security perspective plan which has just got updated in 2022, and it's a 15-year plan and as per that we are progressing our capability development," Admiral Hari Kumar added.
"We are looking at everything being built in India. As of today we have only two ships being built elsewhere. Rest all are being built in India. When you talk of a ship, there are three components. Float, move and fight. When it comes to float, we are 95 per cent indigenisation," Admiral Hari Kumar said, focussing on the Make in India agenda of the Indian Navy.
Admiral Hari Kumar also spoke about the plans of the second Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) after the successful commissioning of INS Vikrant last September.
"Now, we are very confident of the aircraft integration bit as well as development of the carrier. We have just started the case for a repeat order. It is a work in progress. It will take time, but now we have the expertise in India to build it. Cochin Shipyard has got the requisite experience. We are working on the case as of now," he told reporters in response to a question from NDTV on the plans for building a second aircraft carrier in India.
Taking about the Indian Navy's plans for acquiring unmanned vessels, Admiral Hari Kumar said, "Those of you who have been following the Ukraine-Russia conflict will be aware of the effect of drones and drone warfare that is happening. We already have drones or remotely piloted aircraft. There is work happening on a remotely piloted surface craft which is being worked upon by GSL. It has reached a certain stage of trials. Now the underwater unmanned vehicle is also under development. We are forming a remotely piloted squadron. It's under development. We have a certain number of these craft, and we look forward to increasing their capability."
Talking about naval cooperation with India's neighbour Bangladesh, Admiral Hari Kumar said, "We have taken forward this idea of cooperation with Bangladesh in shipbuilding. This has gained traction. We started this about a year or year-and-a-half back. We are looking at some sort of joint venture or a collaboration between a shipyard in Bangladesh and a shipyard in India like, GRSE where you can build common purpose offshore patrol vessels or tugs or even warships like frigates and so on. This is being taken forward."
"We are very closely cooperating with Bangladesh because they are our neighbour. So much of naval cooperation is there between the Indian Navy and the Bangladesh Navy, and now we are looking at these shipbuilding aspects also. We have a very good relationship with all the countries in the region, especially in the IOR (Indian Ocean Region)," Admiral Hari Kumar added.