The Naval Commanders’ Conference which commenced on 18 October 2021, concluded today after four days of fruitful deliberations.The Hon’ble Raksha Mantri addressed Naval Commanders on 18 October 2021 and commended the men and women of the Indian Navy for their professionalism and dedication towards maintaining a high operational tempo and safeguarding maritime interests of the nation. He highlighted the importance of India’s maritime character and geo-strategic location which are the twin factors that have played an important role in our growth as a nation and evolution as a civilization. Further, he stressed on the need to have strong Navy due to our increasing dependence on the seas for national development, and for proactive engagement with the world. RM commended Navy to have lived up to the expectation of the Nation by establishing a visible, credible and responsive presence in the IOR. He also complimented the Navy for providing medical aid to South West Indian Ocean Region countries, as part of Mission SAGAR which is in lines with Hon’ble PM’s clarion call for Security AndGrowth for All in the Region; undertaking various HADR Operations in the wake of natural calamities; and providing succour to civil populace during the second wave of COVID-19.
The Hon’ble RM highlighted that Indian Navy has spent more than two-thirds of the Modernisation Budget in the last five years towards indigenous procurement and out of 41 ships and submarines ordered by the Navy, 39 are from Indian shipyards, which is a testament to the Navy’s commitment to ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. He urged IN to maintain the momentum achieved thus far and assured that the steps taken by the Government will give it more strength to increase the lethal strike capability. Hon’ble RM also emphasized that P75(I) project would be one of the largest ‘Make in India’ projects and complimented IN on the successful maiden Sea Trials of the indigenously designed and built Aircraft Carrier ‘Vikrant’ by overcoming challenges, including COVID related imponderables. Additionally, the Minister also highlighted training as an effective tool in bolstering naval diplomacy and commended the Navy in providing training to foreign personnel in India for more than four decades. Further, in keeping with the evolving technological transformation world over in unmanned systems, an Integrated Unmanned Roadmap for IN was also promulgated by Hon’ble RM during the conference.
The Commanders interacted with Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Air Staff and discussed wide range of issues including ways to enhance tri-services synergy in view of the evolving regional security scenario.
Chairing the conference, the Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh addressed the Naval Commanders on various important issues pertaining to combat readiness, capability enhancement, credibility as Maritime Force, safety, maintenance, op logistics philosophy, infrastructure development and human resource management. He also drew attention to the prevalent security situation and the increasing mandate of IN in the contested environment of the IOR. The Commanders deliberated on methods to optimize outcomes and fulfill operational requirements within the available resource envelope, in all facets such as operations, acquisitions, infrastructure, maintenance, logistics, HR management and training. This along with placing primacy on the operational assets of the Indian Navy were themes of the Naval Commanders’ Conference.