Admiral R Hari Kumar announced on Sunday that the Indian Navy will conduct significant operations off its west coast in the next ten days that will involve the fleets of both of its aircraft carriers. During “Exercise Milan,” he told ANI in an exclusive interview that both aircraft carriers—INS Vikramaditya and the made-in-India INS Vikrant—would be in Vishakhpatnam, but the twin carrier operations wouldn’t be visible for ten days. “There will be two carriers present for Exercise Milan. Still, the Navy chief stated, “the operationalization of the carriers, the integration to the fleet, and the participation of the fleet is going to happen in ten days.”
“The tempo of operation is quite high in the western seaboard right now because 10 of our ships are deployed for anti-drone measures and another 3-4 ships are deployed for anti-piracy operations, which is unprecedented. This wasn’t the case earlier,” the Navy chief said.
He added that INS Vikrant would be positioned on the east coast only after the infrastructure for it is created there.
On the clearance of C295 aircraft based surveillamce planes for the force, Admiral Hari Kumar said, “The Defense Acquisition Council (DAC) approved it yesterday. There are nine aircraft for the Navy and six for the Coast Guard. So, a total of 15 aircraft.”
The Navy chief added that the C295 aircraft now is going to be built in India, in line with the push for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliant India).
“The most important thing is that Tata Advanced Systems Limited and DRDO will work together to develop the information management system and sensor suite. Since this is a developmental project, it will likely take at least four to five years before we receive the first aircraft, according to the Navy chief.
