Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'We need to strengthen our navy' that was published in Newsband

We need to strengthen our navy

Indian navy has always been inextricably connected with India’s growth story. Our navy safeguards the sea lanes of the Indian Ocean. In fact, our navy has multiple roles to perform. These include safeguarding the country’s energy security, as the bulk of India’s oil supplies, procured from the Persian Gulf, transits through the shipping lanes of the Indian Ocean, which has witnessed a surge in incidents of piracy in recent years. The 2004 tsunami made the government realize that the navy needs to be well-equipped to provide disaster relief. Our navy also plays a role to protect offshore oil installations far away from the Indian shores.

It is good to know that India is focusing on home-grown technology in the construction and design of naval vessels. India possesses fairly advanced science and technology today. It would be ideal and relevant to build our own submarine, if our pocket permits.

Some underestimate the power of Navy. They feel that it is less powerful than Air Force or Army. But these people should not forget that if one goes by history of European powers in the past one will realize that these powers could extend their overseas empires only by virtue of their Maritime prowess. Spanish and English navies in 16th and 18th centuries are two classical examples in that case.

Our Navy urgently needs to augment its submarine wing with modern warships especially after several accidents to our vessels at Mumbai Port. Perhaps, the navy should also be looking into inducting large number of smaller but more agile and speedier coastguard cutters that are equipped with state of the art surveillance and communication gear and have the lethal fire power that would provide total security cover for India's vast maritime/trading coast line. Such lethal but nimble and cost effective naval ships would make them easy to sell in secondary defense equipment market, and ideally can be acquired by smaller but friendlier coastal nations.

As far as submarines are concerned, India has allowed itself to be dangerously deficient in this vital technology. India should be investing more in modernising its naval production facilities, which are generally under-capitalised. What is needed is to speed up the research, development, and manufacture of new weapons using the latest technology within the country.

If our navy has to become a force multiplier to energize India’s economic growth, more attention would be required to shore up its ailing submarine fleet, coupled with a renewed focus on the development of a state-of-the-art aircraft carrier arm.