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The indigenously built stealth warship `INS Sahyadri' was commissioned on Saturday into the Indian Navy, adding to its anti-submarine warfare capability. The frigate, last in the series of stealth warships after `INS Shivalik' and `INS Satpura', was commissioned by Defence Minister A. K. Antony at the Naval dockyard in Mumbai in the presence of Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma and senior naval officials. INS Sahyadri is the last warship of`Project-17' undertaken by the Navy. The first two in the class -- INS Shivalik and INS Satpura - were commissioned in April 2010 and August 2011, respectively. These ships have been...

The Russian refit of their former Gorshkov VSTOL carrier into the STOBAR Indian Aircraft Carrier Virkamaditya is complete and the vessel has been launched for sea trials. INS VIKRAMADITYA LAUNCHED FOR SEA TRIALS Originally the Indian Navy purchased a full wing of new Mig-29K aircraft from Riussia for 1.5 billion (USD) which included the refitting of this 1980s carrier. However cost overruns ensued and ultimately after months of work stoppage, the Russians and Indians agreed to a complete cost for the carrier and the aircraft for 2.8 billion (USD), still a low price. The Virkamaditya is now launched and in...

The 45,000 tons and 273 meter long ship is expected to undergo testing in the Barents Sea in the course of May, a source associated with the Russian military industrial complex told Itar-Tass. In addition, the ship will undertake a 3,5 month test expedition Then, on 4 December, the ship will be handed over to the Indian Navy, the source says. It has taken the Sevmash yard more than eight years to complete the extensive upgrade of the vessel. The yard signed a contract with Indian authorities in 2004. However, it soon turned out the the yard was incapable of...

Indian Navy to induct 24 Boeing P8-I Maritime Reconnaissance Aircraft By Gulshan Luthra Published: December 2011 New Delhi. The Indian Navy will acquire 12 more Boeing P8-I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance (LRMR) aircraft in addition to the 12 already ordered or being ordered. Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Nirmal Verma told India Strategic in an interview that the Navy was satisfied with the progress of the first eight Indian P8-Is being built by Boeing under a 2009 order and that the second order for four more aircraft was being processed to be placed within the current fiscal ending March...

Indian Naval Ship Sukanya, presently deployed on anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden under the operational control of the Western Naval Command, found herself once again in the thick of things, thwarting a multiple-boat piracy attack on 10 Nov 11. The ship was escorting a group of five merchant vessels through the IRTC (Internationally Recognised Transit Corridor) when, at about 9:25 in the morning of 10th Nov, she detected a group of five suspicious boats, speedily approaching the merchant vessels of her group. The warship immediately altered towards the suspicious vessels and challenged them. On seeing the resolve evident...

Indian Navy's poseidon takes off Ajai Shukla / New Delhi September 29, 2011, 23:40 IST Boeing demonstrates the multi-mission maritime aircraft; to start work now for 2013 delivery. The Indian Navy, which aims to be the premier blue water force in the Indian Ocean region, needs to keep a year-round watch over some two million sq km of open sea, the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone. In war, the area becomes larger. The aircraft that will perform this function in the decades to come, the P8I Poseidon multi-mission maritime aircraft (MMA), has made its first flight at a Boeing facility in...

'India eyes mega-Navy spend - $50 bn' Agencies Posted: May 16, 2011 at 1641 hrs Singapore India is to invest USD 46.96 billion as part of moves to boost up its naval forces over the next 20 years adding 101 new warships, ranging from sophisticated destroyers to nuclear submarines. "Going by the investment value, India is expected to build sophisticated destroyers, new generation and new radar vessels, nuclear submarines, and amphibious ships," Naval analyst Bob Nugent and vice president of the United States-based AMI International, said here today. Speaking at a pre-event press conference for the International Maritime Defence Exhibition...

As Somalian pirates continue to hold seven Indian merchant sailors hostage, the Indian Navy, in what is a possible retaliatory posture, today diverted a warship from anti-piracy patrolling duties to station it off the coast of Somalia in North-eastern Africa. On Friday pirates released eight of the 15 Indian sailors held hostage since September last year. Seven other Indians, which includes six officers, have been held back despite the pirates having got an undisclosed sum as ransom from the owners of the merchant ship MV Asphalt Venture. The ship was hijacked in September last year when it was on its...

Toughening its stand on the Indian sailors hostage crisis in Somalian waters, the Indian Navy today sent a Talwar class frigate to the Somalia coast to deal with any exigency during ongoing negotiations, even as the government rejected the pirates' offer for a swap with captured brigands. Overseas Indian Affairs minister Vayalar Ravi said the Indian government rejected the swap offer made by Somali pirates in order to get the abducted Indian sailors freed. The Government, he told mediapersons here, would not bargain with pirates for the release of the sailors, and added that his Ministry was coordinating with the...

MOGADISHU, Somalia – In a move that could change the pirate-hostage equation, Somali pirates on Friday took in a multimillion dollar ransom, then released the ship and some of the crew but kept all the Indian crew members as hostages. A pirate told The Associated Press the Indian crew members' hostage ordeal is being prolonged in retaliation for the arrests of more than 100 Somali pirates by the Indian Navy. "We decided to keep the Indian because India is holding our colleagues," the pirate, Hassan Farah, said. "We released the other crew members who sailed away from our coast. We...

After offering jobs and other incentives to the stone-pelting youth of Kashmir, New Delhi has now offered to entice the increasingly notorious Somali pirates by engaging them in projects and creating jobs for them in Somalia. The pirates have become a major threat to international shipping since 2000, when the second phase of the Somali civil war began. The International Maritime Organisation and the World Food Programme have said in reports that increasing incidents of piracy have contributed to an increase in shipping costs and have impeded the delivery of food aid shipments. India’s Minister for External Affairs SM Krishna,...

Five dozen pirates living on a hijacked ship serving as a roving pirate base jumped into the Arabian Sea on Monday after the Indian navy fired on the vessel in self-defense, the navy said Monday. The navy captured 61 pirates fleeing the battle and the fire that broke out aboard the hijacked vessel. The battle is the latest example of the piracy trade's turn toward increased violence. A pirate in Somalia threatened Indian sailors and the government with targeted attacks in retaliation for the arrests. The Indian navy said a patrol aircraft spotted the mothership Friday while responding to another...

The Indian Government is mulling over the idea of having armed escorts on merchant ships akin to those appointed in airlines in the wake of an increase in the number of attacks by Somali pirates. The decision is under consideration after Indian ship owners sought the government's permission to have guards on ships as a defensive mechanism. The hijacking of ships near the coast of Somalia has cost the shipping industry millions of dollars. Pirates have continued to attack foreign ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, defying an armada of warships trying to protect the key...

WESTERN PACIFIC OCEAN | Naval personnel from India and the United States will participate in exercise Malabar 2011, April 3-10. Malabar is a regularly scheduled bilateral naval field training exercise and has grown in scope and complexity over the years. Malabar 2011 is the latest in a continuing series of exercises conducted to advance multinational maritime relationships and mutual security issues. The at-sea portions will be conducted in the western Pacific Ocean, east of the Luzon Strait and east of Okinawa. The location coincides with the Indian Navy's western Pacific deployment. The exercise is designed to advance U.S.-Indian military-to-military coordination...

After a gun-battle in the high seas, the Indian Navy has apprehended a pirate mother ship rescuing 13 crew members and arrested 61 Somali sea brigands about 600 nautical miles off the western coast in the Arabian Sea. "At 2100 hours on March 12, INS Kalpeni intercepted a pirate mother vessel called Vega 5 in the Arabian Sea about 600 nautical miles west of India. 13 crew members were rescued and 61 pirates were nabbed," Navy spokesperson Commander P V Satish said here today. The operation had started on Friday when a naval Dornier aircraft located Vega 5 while responding...

The first flight of the naval version of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) is expected to take place by May this year. The Naval Prototype-1 (NPT1), which was rolled out last year, is undergoing integration tests in Bangalore. Cmde (Retd) CD Balaji, project director LCA Navy, said integration tests are on and the aircraft is currently suspended on bungee cords for undergoing a series of tests. Following this, the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), the nodal agency for the design and development of the LCA programme, is expected to start the aircraft engine for testing. A series of ground tests followed...

Here at Aero India 2011, Eurofighter has showcased a new naval variant of the Eurofighter Typhoon and has offered it to the Indian Navy. The Eurofighter has also been pitching hard for the Indian Air Force Medium Multi-role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition and roped in the Defence Minister of United Kingdom Dr. Liam Fox to strongly push the deal. In a press briefing at the Aero India media center, he spoke highly of the Eurofighter's bid for M-MRCA competition and termed the offering as the best bet on the table. Answering a question of the high price of the Erofighter...

The Eurofighter consortium is offering India the opportunity to acquire a new version of its Typhoon for use from a future indigenous aircraft carrier, with the first firm details of the proposal having emerged at the show. One of six contenders battling for the Indian air force's 126-aircraft medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) deal, Eurofighter is here touting the potential of a navalised development which has already been studied in detail in the UK. "If Typhoon wins MMRCA then India will have the indigenous skills to develop a navalised version," says Paul Hopkins, BAE Systems' vice-president business development (air) India....

3 Feb, 2011, 05.07PM IST, Biswarup Gooptu,ET Bureau Indian Navy to buy four more P-8Is aircraft BANGALORE: The Indian Navy has decided to exercise its option for an additional four Boeing P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft in a bid to boost its maritime patrol capabilities as well as counter piracy threats and the growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean. In a deal expected to range between $1 billion to $1.5 billion, the new aircraft will be in addition to the eight the Navy had ordered in January 2009, for about $2.1 billion. The new contract price is also expected...

<p>“Son, I promise … it’s not usually like this when daddy goes to work.”</p> <p>Military families have to make a lot of sacrifices, with their loved ones being gone for long periods at a time and facing a lot of risk. Militaries around the world have learned that it’s very important that the loved ones on the home front feel a real connection to what their relatives do when they’re abroad. Events that bring the families into the world of the military, even just for a few hours, are a great way to reach out to the spouses and kids of service members and build real connections between those in uniform and their community. No doubt that was why the Indian Navy invited family members aboard the INS Vindhyagiri for a day’s worth of cruising at sea.</p>