Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioning Barracuda — India’s first ever export warship — in Mauritius on the island country’s national day on March 12 is set to be followed by a bigger orders from countries in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
While the government has already cleared export of 13 warships to Mauritius, which will be supplied over the next year, senior officials in the MoD have said that a task to “identify” and “support” maritime needs of smaller nations in the IOR is being undertaken so as to counter the Chinese presence in the region.
“This forms a strategy in which the government is looking at supporting the maritime infrastructure of friendly foreign countries… Most navies in our littoral look for sub-20 metre boats for harbour patrol, 50-60 metre boats for their territorial waters and 80-110 metre boats for their EEZ surveillance. GSL (Goa Shipyards Limited) and GRSE (Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers), Kolkata, have set up production lines so that these ships can be produced and offered at competitive prices and in a fixed, time-bound manner to these friendly nations,” a senior Navy official said.
According to the official, India will not only be maintaining the supplied vessels, but will also be deploying Indian personnel in these nations to “look after the supplied assets”. “We have signed MoUs with some countries where we will provide operational availability at sea-guarantee to them through GSL and GRSE,” he added.
While the defence ministry has been pushing indigenous defence production under its ‘Make in India’ slogan, some of the recent clearances include two Fast Patrol Vessels (FPVs) and 11 Fast Attack Crafts to Mauritius. These projects, cleared over the past 11 months, “are in different stages of execution and total to about Rs 1,200 crore” according to Rear Admiral Shekhar Mittal, CMD, GSL. GSL, has also secured orders from Sri Lanka for two Offshore Patrol Vessels and a damage control simulator to Myanmar. GRSE, which has built the $50.8 million Barracuda for Mauritius, is also participating in a global tender to supply two frigates to Philippines. “One meeting took place in Manila in January. Also in the pipeline is the supply of 10 patrol vessels to Vietnam. This will be under the line of credit extended to the nation by GoI,” said a GRSE official.
US shares India’s concern over Chinese role in South China Sea
New Delhi: The US on Tuesday said that they “share” India’s concern about “what China is doing in South China Sea”. Visiting commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Admiral Harry Harris, on Tuesday told a group of reporters: “A China that recognises norms” is in interest of everyone. “We encourage China to follow international laws,” he said. According to Harris, the US is also looking at placing “60 per cent of its naval fleet” in the Pacific region by 2020. “Right now we have 60 per cent of our sub-surface fleet and 55 per cent of surface ships” in the Pacific region… We are sending two ships to Japan and will bring an aircraft carrier in addition to the existing five in the Pacific,” Harris said.
