By Nethra Sailesh
Construction of 54 Indian Naval Ships is underway, marking the largest ship-building programme the Navy has undertaken, according to officials.
According to news reports, this massive undertaking aims to bolster India’s maritime strategy and protect against regional challenges that might arise with Pakistan and China. It’s also to safeguard national interests.
India is considered a preferred security partner in the Indian Ocean region, which is an important route in terms of global trade. This new shipbuilding exercise promotes regional cooperation but is also a step towards advancing India’s SAGAR, aka Security and Growth for All in the Region.
All 54 vessels are slated to be completed by 20230. As of now, 10 will join the expanding fleet this year. India has set a long-term goal of having around 200 warships and submarines under its belt by 2035. All constructions underway also come under India’s Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative.
The construction under the larger goal of fulfilling national security needs also generated huge amounts of employment across supplementary industries. The Navy is also set to build 10 warships by December 2025. This will be one of its largest single-phase inductions.
This also comes at a time when India is seeing a lot of indigenously built naval vessels. INS Androth, India’s Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC), is slated to be commissioned on October 6. This vessel is more than 80% indigenously built.
The Indian Navy is also slated to issue a tender worth Rs 80,000 crore to build four large warships. This is known as the Landing Platform Dock (LPD), which will be one of the largest for building landing surface warships.
All of these initiatives reflect India becoming more self-reliant on its own resources when it comes to maritime security. In line with this goal, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh K. Tripathi is on a four-day visit to Sri Lanka to discuss training and identify areas for strengthening cooperation.