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The major disruption caused by Yemeni Houthis in the Red Sea is hardly the only trouble spot in the world’s increasingly dangerous seas. An Indian navy warship has intercepted a hijacked cargo ship in the Indian Ocean, safely rescued all 17 crew members, and detained all 35 Somali pirates. The Indian navy vessel INS Kolkata came to the rescue of the Bulgarian ship MV Ruen, which was hijacked by pirates back on December 14, 2023. The operation lasted no less than 40 hours. The hijacking of the Ruen was the first successful action by Somali pirates in the past six...

The people familiar with the matter have described the eight former Indian Navy officers as those with "unblemished" tenures of up to two decades. The men had served in important positions including as instructors in the Navy.The war, which commenced with the Hamas attacks of October 7, is far from over and there is much suffering yet to come The close bond between Sita, Urmila, Mandavi, and Shrutakirti proves that women are not enemies—a convenient narrative cultivated through centuries Qatar on Thursday left India 'shocked' when a court announced death sentences for eight former Indian Navy personnel. The men were...

There is a "large presence" of Chinese vessels in the Indian Ocean Region and India keeps a "very close watch" on the developments in the region to protect and preserve its national interests in the maritime domain, Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar said on Saturday. During an interaction at a conclave, he also said that the Indian Navy is seized of the docking of various PLA Navy ships at ports in Pakistan, and it is "keeping a watch on it". Asked about the threat aspects, the Navy chief spoke of both conventional and non-conventional threats, besides those emerging from...

The Indian Navy announced on Friday that it had achieved a “significant milestone” in its anti-air warfare capabilities by having one of its warships control missiles fired from two ships. The Indian Navy announced that, with the test of this cooperative engagement system, “it has become a part of a select group of navies that have this niche capability. This capability significantly enhances the combat effectiveness of the Indian Navy, thereby providing an operational edge over potential adversaries.” A press release by the Indian Navy described the test as its “maiden cooperative engagement”, for which the Medium-Range Surface-to-Air Missile (MRSAM),...

A sailor, who felt he was "a woman trapped in a man's body", is facing termination from serving with the armed forces, after the Navy recommended to the defence ministry that "she" be discharged from service. The sailor in question had recently undergone sex change surgery or gender reassignment, which prompted the Indian Navy to take this extreme measure. Confronted with the first-ever such case when the sailor returned to her INS Eksila base in Visakhapatnam after quietly undergoing the surgery in Mumbai late last year, the Navy wants her to be discharged under the SNLR (service no longer required)...

Twenty-nine years after they entered service, the Indian Navy’s Tupolev Tu-142M long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft will be retired this week. On March 29, the INAS 312 ‘Albatross’ squadron will operate only Boeing P-8Is. Ahead of the ceremonial retirement, the Indian Navy’s excellent frontman & spokesperson CAPTAIN DALIP SHARMA sent Livefist this exclusive piece. The Journey of ‘Mighty Props’ With the era of Grand Old Lady, the Super constellation coming to an end in 1983, the Nation and the Indian Navy had realised the value of having a multi engine LRMR – ASW aircraft and negotiations were commenced with our...

The Barak 8 is a long range surface to air missile NEW DELHI: When the Indian Navy commissioned its most-advanced warship eight months ago, the INS Kolkata was missing its primary weapon system - the Barak 8 long range surface to air missiles, 32 of which were meant to be carried onboard in ready-to-fire mode. NDTV has learned that the Barak 8 missile has cleared all its tests and is ready for induction. The missile, designed to intercept incoming anti-ship missiles at a range of at least 70 kilometres, has been made in partnership with Israel, where it has successfully...

Work has begun on scrapping the country's first aircraft carrier, Vikrant. Built for the British Royal Navy as HMS Hercules in 1943, it was acquired by India in 1957 and saw action during the India-Pakistan war in 1971, playing a key role. When the electric saws were pressed upon the ship, it essentially put an end to a movement by activists to save her. Vikrant was auctioned to a ship-breaker for Rs 63 crore this year. Mumbai's IB Commercials Pvt Ltd won the bid on January 29 and bought the vessel on April 9. Since then, the company faced hurdles...

Naval warfare experts agree the Indian Navy is capable of obtaining "sea control" - or domination of waters and airspace - in the Arabian Sea in a war with Pakistan. Equally, India can dominate China's sea lines of communications (SLOCs) through the Indian Ocean, cutting off trade, oil and commodities. This ability stems from India's aircraft carriers and the proximity to naval and air bases on Indian territory (Indian navy: Strong on aircraft carriers, short of submarines). Yet a bleaker picture emerges of the navy's ability for "sea denial" - bottling up enemy shipping in a particular area; or blocking...

Indian Navy will receive its first indigenous P15A, Kolkata class destroyer today. The destroyer completed delivery acceptance trails (DAT) and will be commissioned soon. The 6,800 tonne destroyer, which is over three years behind schedule, is a technology demonstrator and will showcase shipbuilding technology for India. It was constructed at Mazagon Dock, Mumbai. INS Kolkata will be a part of the Kolkata Class destroyers of the Indian Navy which will include follow-on ships by the name of INS Kochin and INS Chennai respectively. The keel of the warship was laid down in September 2003 and the ship was launched in...

Indian warship building is coming of age and the Indo-Pacific region knows it. Last week, when an Indian Navy frigate, INS Shivalik, visited China’s Qingdao naval base, China’s navy chief, Admiral Wu Shengli, asked the captain for a tour of the Combat Information Centre, the operation heart of the warship. The Shivalik’s young skipper, Captain Puruvir Das, turned down Wu’s request. The Chinese admiral would be even more interested in touring INS Kolkata, 7,200 tonnes of bristling steel, which could join the navy as early as next month as the most powerful and high-tech warship in its 140-vessel fleet. Tonne...

Indian Navy performs Joint Exercises with INS Vikramaditya, R33, and INS Viraat, R22 India's newest carrier, the INS Vikramaditya, R33, which India paid the Russians to rebuild and refit from the old Russian Admiral Gorshkov vessel, arrived in the Arabian Sea off of India. It was greeted by India's other carrier, the INS Viraat, R22 and its task force. The two groups then combined and began performing joint exercises. The two carriers, three guided missile destroyers, four guided missile frigates, and a replenishment tanker made up the combined group. The INS Virkamaditya will embark an air wing of 20 Mig-29K...

NEW DELHI (AP) -- The Indian navy submarine crippled by an explosion and fire that killed at least some of the 18 sailors aboard Wednesday had been damaged in another deadly blast in 2010, and had been brought back into service only about six months ago. The latest explosion sent a huge fireball into the air and sent nearby sailors jumping into the sea in panic. It is shaping up to be another embarrassment for India's military, which has been hit with a corruption scandal as it races to modernize its forces... --snip-- The 16-year-old Russian-made submarine, INS Sindhurakshak, also...

Navy eyes high-tech options for future aircraft carriers General Atomics briefs navy on magnetic catapult that launches unmanned fighters The Indian Navy — one of just nine navies that operate aircraft carriers — is thinking high-tech in planning its second indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vishal. The admirals are deciding whether INS Vishal, still only a concept, should launch aircraft from its deck using a technology so advanced that it is not yet in service anywhere: the Electro-Magnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS). Getting a fully loaded combat aircraft airborne off a short, 200-metre-long deck is a key challenge in aircraft carrier...

Russia will hand over the much-delayed INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier to India in November, giving the country's navy a strategic advantage in the Indian Ocean region. The Vikramaditya aircraft carrier is to be handed over to the Indian Navy in November, 2013, head of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, Alexander Fomin, said yesterday. "The ship is to be put in a dock in April, go on sea trials in June and July and be officially handed over some time in November," he said. The Vikramaditya was originally built as the Soviet Project 1143.4 class aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov....

India is getting ready to create another flutter in the arms bazaar — 10 months after it selected French firm Dassault Aviation for a $18-billion ( Rs. 99,000 crore) deal to equip the air force with Rafale fighters. This time, India will spend more than $10 billion ( Rs. 55,000 crore) to scale up the navy’s undersea combat capabilities — inducting next generation submarines — to deter China, which has more than 50 conventional submarines in its fleet, but nearly two-thirds of those are outdated. The Indian Navy’s existing submarine fleet is rather humble, consisting of just 10 Russian Kilo-class,...

Indian naval warship INS Ranjit (D53)India will deploy warships to the South China Sea if the country’s regional interests are compromised, the Indian Navy commander said. As China bolsters its military, the region has witnessed rising tensions over unresolved territorial disputes. India is not directly involved in any of the disputes, but its national interests are tied to the turbulent region, Admiral D K Joshi said on Monday, a day ahead of India’s Navy Day. Delhi may deploy its forces to the region if the situation deteriorates. “Are we preparing for it? Are we having exercises of that nature? The...

India Friday added more teeth to its navy when it inducted a new Russian-built multi-role stealth frigate, carrying the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, into its fleet, adding to its recently growing blue water capabilities. The warship will join the Western Fleet of the Indian Navy by the end of December and its first commander is Captain Antony George, an anti-submarine warfare specialist. The new guided missile frigate, christened INS Tarkash, was handed over to the Indian Navy by Russia's United Shipping Corporation at Kaliningrad in western Russia, the seat of its Yantar Shipyard in the Baltic. India's Mumbai-based Western Naval...

China and Russia are arguing over the quality of Chinese firebricks. That's because last month Russia told India that delivery of the refurbished Russian carrier Admiral Gorshkov (since renamed the INS Vikramaditya) would be delayed another ten months. The problem was that seven of eight steam boilers in the carrier power plant failed during recent high-speed trials. The Russians blame India for this, as the Indians refused to allow the Russians to use asbestos to insulate nearby engine components from the intense heat generated by the steam boilers. Instead the Russians had to use firebrick which, as some engineers suspected,...

INS Arihant, planned to be the first of five submarines of its class, will be ready to begin sea trials, said Admiral Nirmal Verma, the navy commander. When the vessel eventually becomes operational, India will be able to launch nuclear missiles from the sea, land and air, joining a handful of countries possessing the "nuclear triad". The strategic aim is to deter China and Pakistan and establish India as the leading power in the Indian Ocean. "INS Arihant is steadily progressing towards becoming operational," said Adml Verma. "We are pretty close to putting it to sea." The navy was poised...