VISAKHAPATNAM: Terming the commissioning of INS Vikrant by Prime Minister Narendra Modi a big landmark, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar said the indigenously built aircraft carrier will be fully operational by November this year.
He added, “We will work towards ensuring that it is docked in Visakhapatnam, for which, six squadron pilots have already been qualified.”
Stating that Agnipath is a successful scheme, Admiral Kumar said, “Agnipath is a transformative scheme and navy is the first to launch it. As many as 2,585 Agniveers were the first batch of pass outs. Of the total, 272 are women,” he said and observed that the average age profile to join the services will come down to 25-26 from the current 32-33.
Further, the naval officer said the Indian Navy is working towards becoming fully ‘Atmanirbhar’ by 2047. “Currently, 60 to 65% of the capital expenditure of the navy is in the domestic industry for ship-building and other related activities. We hope to increase it to 80% by 2035,” he explained.
The Admiral said, “As part of India’s Make In India initiative, a total of 1,106 proposals were received for various defence-related products. Of them, 100 contracts have been signed and two products have already been developed and inducted into service. Prototypes of another 10 products are almost complete.”
Further, he announced that the City of Destiny will host the multilateral naval exercise, MILAN, in February 2024.