Manoj Ambat's Blog dealing with Defence, Foreign Affairs, Strategic Affairs and Politics

Credits- Indian Navy The Indian Navy is ready for any contingency, Indian Navy Chief. With increased deployment and also maturing as a true blue sea navy, Indian navy will play an increasingly key role in India's security architecture. (To read the full article, click here ..........)

INS Viraat setting sail on her last voyage ( Image credits- Indian Navy)  INS Viraat hold a pride of place in the history of the Indian Navy. Joining the Indian fleet in 1987 as India's second aircraft carrier after her decommissioning as HMS Hermes from the Royal Navy, she played a critical part in the Indian Navy for over three decades. She was the flag ship of the Indian Navy until the mantle was passed on to INS Vikramaditya. INS Viraat was unique in many ways. She is the oldest serving Aircraft carrier in the world. She also has an illustrious carrier spanning well over five decades in active duty spanning from the Falklands war to the Indian Navy. As the Indian Navy prepares to decommission her in the later part of this year, an era will come to an end. As she is taken off the services, she also becomes the last carrier in the Indian Navy to have STOVL configuration which enabled her to deploy Sea Harrier jump jet. After her decommissioning, Indian navy is transitioning

Image credits- Indian navy Source- The National Interest Author- Kyle Mizokami The most powerful navies in 2030 will be a reflection of the broader state of the world. Some countries are invested in preserving the current international order, and see naval power as a means to maintain it. Other emerging countries are building navies commensurate with their newfound sense of status, often with an eye towards challenging that order. The eastward shift in naval power will continue in 2030, a product of both declining defense budgets in Europe and growing economies in Asia. While the most powerful navies of the Cold War were concentrated largely in Europe, by 2030 both China and India will be on the list, with Japan and South Korea as runners-up also fielding large, modern naval forces. Ship-wise, there are two classes that will define the most powerful navies: aircraft carriers and ballistic missile submarines. Aircraft carriers reflect the need to maintain a global

INS Vikramaditya ( R-33) (Image credits- Indian Navy) Source- Russia & India Report Author- Konstantin Zavrazhin , RIR The Russian Morinformsystem-Agat company has held talks with several Indian instrument-making and defence companies on new projects to jointly develop information systems for the Indian Navy, a company press release said. “Talks were held with the GRSE Shipyard, Goa Shipyard, and Hindustan Shipyard on the possibilities for cooperation in the construction of new ships of Indian design, and integration of the concern’s information systems in these projects. Cooperation in development of joint-projects for manufacturing information systems for the Indian Navy were discussed with the instrument-manufacturing companies Bharat Electronics Limited and Mahindra & Mahindra, as well as defence companies Reliance Defence and the SUN Group,” RIA Novosti quoted the company’s press release as saying. Among areas of cooperation between Morinformsystem-Ag

INS Tabar ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Deepak Gupta) Source- The National Interest Author- Dave Majumdar Russia is hoping to sell three of its six planned Project 11356-class frigates to India. Moscow is hoping to rid itself of those ships because of their Ukrainian-built engines. The Russian Navy commissioned the first Project 11356 frigate—Admiral Grigorovich—into service last week. While the Russian Navy is expecting to commission two additional Project 11356 frigates into service in May and August, both of these vessels—Admiral Essen and Admiral Makarov—will stay under Moscow’s control and serve with the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The remaining three vessels—which are still under construction—are likely going to be sold to India since New Delhi still has functional relations with Ukraine. A final decision on selling the ships, however, has yet to be made by Moscow. “So far, we are fulfilling the works under state defense order and building t

CNS Kunming ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / 海防先锋) Source- The National Interest Author- James Holmes There are worse things than fleeing the bleak New England midwinter for warmer climes—such as Jaipur, India’s famed “Pink City.” So cold was it when I departed Providence last month that the nozzle on my plane’s fuel hose froze shut, grounding the plane until the crew could unfreeze it. Frolicking around in shirtsleeves at a Mughal dynasty fort in Rajasthan was a welcome relief from frostbite. The occasion for the trip, though, was three days of “quad-plus dialogue” about sundry topics important to Indian Ocean powers. The “quad,” or standing membership for these unofficial “track II” gatherings, refers to India, Australia, Japan and the United States. Sri Lanka is the “plus,” or rotating participant, for this year. Maritime governance in the Pacific and Indian oceans was the subject of my panel. China came up repeatedly during the gathering, which should sho

Image credits- Indian navy Source- The Diplomat Author- Harsh V. Pant The Indian Navy underlined its growing prowess at the International Fleet Review (IFR) 2016 last week. Though it was largely a ceremonial inspection of naval warships by the Indian president, it provided an opportunity to the Indian Navy to showcase its might and rapidly expanding capabilities. It was in 2001 that an event of such a scale was last held in India and since then the Indian Navy’s participating contingent has only grown bigger, with 75 frontline ships and submarines in attendance, in addition to 24 ships and delegations from over 50 nations including Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, France, Indonesia, Iran, Maldives, the United Kingdom and the United States. Flagging the threat of sea-borne terror and piracy as two key challenges to maritime security and underlining the need to respect freedom of navigation against the backdrop of South China Sea dispute, Indian Prime Minister Nare

Indian navy western fleet ( Source- Wikimedia Commons / Indian navy) Source- Eurasia Review Author- Commdore RS Vasan IN (Retd) /SAAG The IFR 2016 will indeed be a grand spectacle as more than one hundred ships from the navies of over fifty countries will participate in this exercise that is carried out every five years. The event which in the initial years was mostly limited to the participation of ships from the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and the merchant navy transformed in to an international event with a major maritime event conducted in 2001 under the initiative of then Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Susheel Kumar. The marching of the naval officers and sailors from ships around the world along the marine drive in Mumbai and the presence of many ships from around the world signaled a new era in maritime diplomacy. The intentions of a maritime India to occupy center stage in both regional and global missions by using the Indian Navy as an instrument of national po