Indian Navy boost Eastern Command to counter Chinese Navy

[Pak_Sher]

NEW DELHI: With an eye on China as well as in keeping with India's "Look East" policy, the Navy is slowly but surely bolstering force levels on the eastern coast with new warships, aircraft and spy drones as well as forward-operating bases (FOBs).

So much so that the Navy has now upgraded the post of the chief of staff (CoS) at the Eastern Naval Command (ENC), which is next only to the flag officer commanding-in-chief, to a three-star general rank. Vice-Admiral S Lanba will take over as the new CoS at ENC on May 1, 2011. The other full-fledged naval operational command, the Western Naval Command (WNC) based at Mumbai, has had a vice-admiral as the CoS for quite some time now.

Additions to the ENC, which has around 50 warships at present, include the new indigenously-manufactured stealth frigate INS Shivalik, which is packed with weapons and sensors, and the 16,900-tonne INS Jalashwa, the huge strategic sea-lift amphibious warship second only to aircraft carrier INS Viraat in size.

"The next two indigenous stealth frigates being built at Mazagon Docks, INS Satpura and INS Sahyadri, which should be commissioned by 2012, will also be based in ENC. Tuticorin and Paradeep are being developed as FOB and OTR (operational turn-around) bases," said a source.

Then, the new fleet tanker, INS Shakti, which should come to India from Italy by September, and the P-8I Poseidon long-range maritime patrol aircraft will also be based in ENC. India is acquiring 12 P-8I aircraft, the first of which is slated for induction by early-2013, from the US for over $3 billion to plug the existing gaps in its surveillance of the entire Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

While these aircraft will be based in Rajali, Navy is also going to deploy spy drones or UAVs at the Parundu air station in Tamil Nadu. At present, Navy has two UAV squadrons based at Kochi and Porbandar, with Parundu and Port Blair next on the agenda. As part of Navy's three-tier aerial surveillance grid for IOR, the drones are already being used for the innermost layer reconnaissance up to 200 nautical miles.

Eye on China, Navy boosts Eastern Command - The Times of India

 

[Pak_Sher]

China needs to keep the Indian naval build in check. Also Indian Navy exercising with US and Japanese Navies should also be kept in mind.

 

[pmukherjee]

The Eastern Naval Command has been neglected for decades since most of the threat was perceived to be emanating from the west. We need to hugely enhance our naval capabilities based on Kochi, Vizak, Paradip and other naval bases on India's eastern coast and maybe seriously consider setting up an independent naval command under a vice admiral based on Andaman & Nicobar. All naval commands should have adequate resources based on Carrier Battle groups, aviation wing, maritime surveillance, ASW capabilities, mine sweepers, high quality surface combat vessels, nuclear submarines and amphibious capabilities.

 

[RoYaL~GuJJaR]

Already Posted.....

http://www.defence.pk/forums/india-defence/102548-eye-china-navy-boosts-eastern-command.html

 

[RoYaL~GuJJaR]

China needs to keep the Indian naval build in check. Also Indian Navy exercising with US and Japanese Navies should also be kept in mind.

Anyway Thanks for your concerns about China.

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[a_chinese]

just called. they told me they are already building nuclear carrier and destroyers to counter muahahahahaha