Faq

Ans. A large percentage of India’s trade, including oil and fertilisers, passes through the Gulf of Aden. The Ministry of Shipping has estimated that, Indian imports through the Gulf of Aden route were valued in the order of USD 50 Billion and exports at USD 60 Billion. The safety and unhindered continuity of maritime trade, through ships that use this route, is a primary national concern as it directly impacts our economy. Although this task accounts for only 13% of our trade (the remainder is carried in foreign ‘bottoms’), the crew of most foreign flagged vessels comprise Indian nationals, as India’s large seafaring community (approximately 100,000 in number) accounts for 6-7% of the world’s seafarers.

Piracy in Gulf of Aden, Somalian Coast, Omani Coast and seas between the African coastline and Maldives is a global menace, being fought not only by IN, but also by numerous Navies of the World. India on its part is actively engaged in anti piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and the Eastern Arabian Sea. The Indian Navy commenced anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden from October 2008 and since then a ship has been deployed continuously. Besides escorting Indian flagged vessels, ships of other countries have also been provided protection. No ship under Indian escort has thus far been hijacked by pirates.

Ans. Efforts of international navies have been quite effective in bringing down the success rates of piracy. Action by navies has denied freedom of operations to the pirates and has deterred and dissuaded them from carrying out attacks in areas where navies are currently deployed. It needs to be highlighted that naval deployments and command and task organisations for them are in accordance with their respective national mandates.

A unified command approach to anti piracy deployments would be useful in further improving the efficiency of ongoing naval operations. India would prefer to operate under an “UN construct” for such unified operations. However, even in the absence of a formal unified structure, cooperation between navies for coordinating anti piracy operations has been excellent.

Ans. The MILAN initiative is a naval interaction held biennially at Port Blair wherein some navies represented by one/two ships each, as also delegations, interact with each other to discuss issues related to maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief etc. MILAN has been conducted so far in 1995, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2006, 2008 and 2010 & 2012. 14 countries participated in MILAN 2012.

Ans. SSC officers are presently inducted under the 10+4 scheme, wherein the officer serves for 10 years and can exercise the option of extending his service by 4 years. PC is granted to SSC officers subject to service requirement and availability of vacancies. Further, the grant of PC is governed by Regs Navy Part III, Statutory, Chapter IV Article 124(7) & 126(7), Chapter IX Article 203.

SSC-to-PC conversion is presently applicable to Technical Officers (Engineering and Electrical). Grant of PC to SSC officers of Law, Education and Naval Construction Cadre is effective for batches that have been inducted wef Oct 08. Officers would be considered for grant of PC based on their performance and recommendations in ACRs. The officers are required to be medically fit as per Naval Standards and no disciplinary/ vigilance case should be pending against the officers.

Officers volunteering for PC are to forward their willingness for extension of service under 10+4 scheme through respective formations. SSC officers would be given two chances to opt for PC/ extension of service. The two chances would be in the sixth and seventh years of service. The selection would be based on inter-se merit of the officers under consideration and subject to availability of vacancies.

Ans. Women officers in the Navy are accorded equality in all aspects of the service. The duties and job specification, training, working conditions, promotion prospects, pay and allowances and service conditions of these officers is exactly the same as that of their male counterparts and there is no gender discrimination whatsoever. The appointment of these officers is planned with the aim of best utilising their qualifications, talent, expertise, aptitude and experience gained during various tenures. However, the employment of women in the Indian Navy is, for the time being, restricted to non-combat areas and to shore-billets only.

At the present juncture, women-officers are being inducted as SSC officers into the ‘Law’, ‘Logistics’, ‘Observers’ and ‘ATC’ Cadres of the ‘Executive Branch’, in the ‘Naval Constructor’ Cadre of the ‘Engineering Branch’, and, in the ‘Education Branch’. The Government has approved grant of PC prospectively to women officers in Education Branch and Law and Naval Constructor Cadres for batches commencing Oct 08.

Ans. The Indian Navy today comprises about one lakh uniformed and civilian personnel of which the uniformed manpower is about 69,000. The Navy is facing a shortfall in both uniformed and civilian personnel. The shortfall of uniformed personnel is about 21% for officers and 18% for sailors. The shortfall for civilian personnel, with a current shortage of some 8,000 individuals, amounts to 18%. Civilian personnel form the backbone of our maintenance force and have longstanding expertise. Adequate measures have been put in place to mitigate these shortages.

Ans. We are very proud of the discipline, hardiness, resilience, innovativeness, and leadership-qualities of our human-resource and are confident that this provides us with a definitive edge over many regional and extra-regional navies.
The Navy is a true reflection of the technological progress of our country. The degree of skill required for running sophisticated ships, submarines and aircraft of the Indian Navy is no mean feat. The fact that our Navy is recognised globally as the principal regional maritime force in the Indian Ocean is indicative of the high quality of the men running it and the training they receive. The last few years have been particularly challenging in the sense that the Navy had to actively reach out to the country, in spreading awareness about the excellence of a career in the Service. As far as sailors are concerned, the Navy is able to pick and choose the best amongst the eligible volunteers. For officers too, all the entries have been oversubscribed and the cut-off percentage for the short-listing of candidates is constantly rising. The cut-off percentage for the 10+2 (Cadet Entry Scheme) Scheme is above 70%, which in itself is indicative of high quality. If past trends are any indication, the quality of the inducted officers is comparable to the best in the country with cut-off reaching as high as 85%.

Ans. The Indian Navy’s present force level comprises about 150 ships and submarines. The Indian Navy’s perspective-planning in terms of ‘force-levels’ is now driven by a conceptual shift from ‘numbers’ of platforms - that is, from the old ‘bean-counting’ philosophy—to one that concentrates upon ‘capabilities’. In terms of force accretions in the immediate future, we are acquiring ships in accordance with the Navy’s current Maritime Capability Perspective Plan.

ONGOING PROJECTS

There are presently more than 50 ships and submarines under construction. Our preferred choice of inducting ships has been through the indigenous route. For instance, the GRSE has already delivered all three of the large amphibious ships and ten water-jet Fast Attack Craft. The yard is presently constructing advanced Anti-submarine Corvettes and has been recently awarded a contract to build LCUs.

In the South, Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) is progressing the construction of our most ambitious ship yet – the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier.

At Mumbai, our premier warship-building yard Mazagon Docks Ltd, is engaged in the construction of Kolkata Class and P-15B destroyers besides stealth frigate of the Shivalik Class. Submarines of the Scorpene Class are also under construction at MDL.

Goa Shipyard Limited, which has built a number of Offshore Patrol Vessels for the Navy and the Coast Guard, has advanced versions of this type under construction.

ENGAGING THE PRIVATE SECTOR

Over the years, the Indian Navy has taken a conscious decision to encourage other shipyards, including private yards, to enter the specialised field of warship-construction. The response has been encouraging. Contracts have been concluded with M/s Pipavav Shipyard Ltd and ABG Shipyard for construction of a few NOPVs and a couple of Cadet Training Ships, respectively.

BRIDGING THE GAP

The indigenous warships construction has come a long way since the commissioning of INS Nilgiri on 03 Jun 72. There are not many countries in the world having capability to produce such a wide variety of warships ranging from Fast Attack Craft to Aircraft Carrier. However, few ships are being inducted from abroad also to bridge the gap in the capabilities envisaged in the Master Plan of Navy. These include the carrier Vikramaditya, and follow-on ships of the Talwar Class from Russia.

MID-LIFE UPGRADES

In addition, Mid-Life Upgrades (MLUs) of ships are also being progressed. After their MLU, ships of the Rajput Class as also those of the Brahmaputra Class will emerge as potent 21st Century combatants with significant residual life.

Ans. Arihant is a Sanskrit word meaning the ‘Destroyer of the Enemy’. The name befits the strategic significance of a nuclear powered submarine. Among the many options considered, the name ‘Arihant’ was selected and approved at all levels because of its subtlety and appropriateness in conveying the resolve.

Ans.The Indian Navy is looking for considerable support from the Indian industry to successfully realize its new ship-building projects. The industry is urged to invest in development of naval equipment meeting the stringent standards, particularly for noise and vibration standards, as these are crucial performance requirements of modern war ships. Modularity of systems, with a standard as well as well-defined minimum interfaces with the ship will be the thrust in the future. This will help the process of ship design and construction to proceed on the basis of the agreed interfaces, while the OEM’s are concurrently developing equipment within the confines of the module. Such an approach will also, to a large extent, accommodate evolutionary designs of state-of-the-art equipment to meet the rising aspirations of the naval staff. Further, given the complexity, magnitude and resource intensive nature of development of new naval systems, a navy-industry relationship founded more on partnership rather than mere customer-supplier relationship would be required. This will give confidence to both parties for sharing the risks of development as well as the benefits of new technology with reduced costs.