While addressing the Naval Commanders’ Conference in New Delhi, the Defence Minister commended the Indian Navy for creating a deterrent posture that forced Pakistan to remain in the harbour or near its coast, asserting that the world witnessed the operational readiness, professional capability and strength of the Navy during the operation.”
Describing the Indian Navy’s presence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) as a matter of “comfort for the friendly nations” and “discomfort for those who seek to destabilise the region," he said, “IOR has become the centre of contemporary geopolitics. It is no longer passive; it has become an area of competition and cooperation.”
“The Indian Navy, through its multi-dimensional capabilities, has played a leadership role in the region. In the last six months, our ships, submarines and Naval aircraft have been deployed at an unprecedented scale,” he said.
“In addition, our Navy has provided safe passage to approximately 335 merchant vessels, equaling approximately 1.2 million metric tons of cargo and a trade value of .6 billion. This is proof that India has now become a trusted and capable partner in the global maritime economy,” he added.
Terming a self-reliant Navy as the foundation of a confident and powerful nation, he said, “In the last 10 years, nearly 67 per cent of the Navy’s capital acquisition contracts have been with Indian industries. This proves that we are no longer dependent solely on imports. We rely on our own talent and the capabilities of MSMEs and start-ups.”
Dubbing the present-day warfare as technology and intelligence-based, the Defence Minister noted that, “Maritime preparedness is no longer only about ships or submarines, it is based on technology-driven, network-centric, and autonomous systems. We need to protect ourselves from our adversaries’ modern technologies, while enhancing our capabilities in these areas.”
Talking about Aatmanirbhar Bharat and the job creation due to it in the maritime domain, the Defence Minister stressed that, ”With every ship and submarine built, a new job is created; with every engine, a new skill is created, and with every indigenous system, India's dependency is decreasing. Project 17A ships, which have more than 75 per cent indigenous content, have created approximately 1.27 lakh jobs in shipyards like MDL and GRSE. It is proof that every Navy project is linked to security as well as the economy and youth employment.”
CDS Anil Chauhan, Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, DRDO chairman, along with other key officials, Samir V. Kamat, and Naval Commanders were present on the occasion.
The conference serves as a platform for close interaction with national leadership and bureaucrats, and fine-tunes the Indian Navy’s outlook towards mitigating multi-dimensional challenges in the current geo-strategic environment. The Navy’s apex leadership is reviewing its operational preparedness on western and eastern seaboards, boosting indigenisation and innovation under the Make-in-India scheme, furthering the government’s vision of MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security Across all Regions) and promoting the Indian Navy as the Preferred Security Partner in the IOR and Indo-Pacific.
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