KOCHI: Vice Admiral A R Karve, Flag Officer Commanding-in Chief of Southern Naval Command, on Friday said 42 new small vessels, warships and submarines, a majority of them built in India, would be inducted into the Navy in the coming years.
He made the statement while replying to queries on ‘Make in India’ projects in Navy, in a press conference organised by Indian Navy on board INS Tir as part of annual Navy Week celebration in the city.
“We have been using indigenous warships and vessels since several decades,” said Karve. Speaking on the manpower shortage the Navy was facing now, he said the shortage had not affected the Navy’s operations.
“Moreover, we are planning to increase recruitments each year to compensate for the shortage,” he added. He countered a query on premature retirements in Navy, saying that Navy was getting lakhs of job requests from Navy aspirants. As for the seventh pay commission, he said the issues regarding it were already under discussion.
When asked whether INS Vikrant, the first indigenous aircraft-carrier, would be made operational by 2018, Karve said the work at Cochin Shipyard was taking place at the right pace and the Naval Headquarters was directly monitoring its fitting out.
Saying that the Navy had played a key role in ensuring the coastal security of the state, he added that discussions were held with the state government to include retired officials from Navy in the Kerala Coastal Police.
Indian Navy is observing Navy Week till December 5. Demonstrations of naval operations would be held at Kochi on December 12. The newly-commissioned stealth destroyer INS Chennai would also arrive in Kochi as part of the week’s celebration, during which the Navy will organise various programmes for public. Every year, December 4 is observed as Indian Navy Day to commemorate the attack by the Indian Navy at Karachi harbour on the day in 1971.