Rajnath Singh visits Karwar Naval Base
Karwar, May 27, 2022: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was on a two-day visit to Karwar Naval Base on May 26 and 27.
On his arrival on Thursday, he was received by Admiral R Hari Kumar, Chief of the Naval Staff, and Vice Admiral Ajendra Bahadur Singh, Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Western Naval Command along with Rear Admiral Atul Anand, Flag Officer Commanding Karnataka Naval Area (FOK).
Upon arrival, the Minister interacted with Defence personnel of Karnataka Naval Area and their families over Barakhana.
On Friday morning the Raksha Mantri along with visiting dignitaries participated in a Yoga session at Kamat Beach.
Later he embarked on Indian Naval Submarine Khanderi, a state-of-the-art indigenous Kalvari class submarine, for a sea sortie.
During the sortie, the RM was given first-hand exposure to various operations conducted in the underwater domain. He was given a first-hand insight into the combat capabilities and offensive strength of the state-of-the-art Kalvari class submarine. For over four hours, the full spectrum of capabilities of underwater operations of the stealth submarine was demonstrated to Rajnath Singh.
Raksha Mantri complimented the crew of the submarine for carrying out operations in a challenging environment and the Indian Navy for maintaining a high state of readiness and offensive capability to address any threat in the maritime domain.
Interacting with media persons after the sea sortie, Shri Rajnath Singh termed Indian Navy as a modern, potent and credible force, capable of being vigilant, valiant, and victorious in all situations. “Today, the Indian Navy is counted among the frontline navies of the world. Today, the world’s largest maritime forces are ready to work and cooperate with India,” he said.
With this, the Raksha Mantri has now witnessed first-hand the three-dimensional combat capability of the Indian Navy, after having embarked on INS Vikramaditya in September 2019 and conducted a sortie on the P8I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance Anti-Submarine Warfare aircraft earlier this month.
The second of the Project 75 submarines were built under the ‘Make in India’ initiative at Mazagon Docks Limited, Mumbai. INS Khanderi was commissioned by Singh on September 28, 2019.
The Scorpene submarines are extremely potent platforms. They have advanced stealth features and are equipped with both long-range guided torpedoes as well as anti-ship missiles. These submarines have a state-of-the-art SONAR and sensor suite permitting outstanding operational capabilities.
Presently, the Indian Navy operates four submarines of this class with two more likely to be inducted by the next year end. The induction of these submarines has significantly enhanced the Indian Navy’s underwater capability in the Indian Ocean Region.
