Since its inception in 1950, Indian Navy is evolved as one of the best and biggest Naval force around the world. Today, India has become a hub for the development of indigenous warships. Indian Navy is now equipped with best in class warships, submarines, maritime weapon systems, aircraft carriers, electronic warfare management systems and naval satellites etc.
So what are the specific strengths which make Indian Navy as the fiercest one in the world?
MARCOS or Maritime Commando Force
Maritime Commandos, previously known as MARCOS, has conducted various successful operations with high level of accuracy. They are trained for operating in mid sea, in the air or on land and are an integral part of Armed Forces Special Operations Division. Some of their successful operations include
- Operation Pawan – as peace keeping force in Sri Lanka against LTTE
- Operation Cactus – to save the Maldives’ democratic government and then President Mr. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
- Anti Piracy Operations against Pirates.
INS – Indian Naval Ships or Indian Navy Stations
Naval Ships and Navy Stations are abbreviated as INS in Indian Navy and boats are abbreviated as INSV (Indian Naval Sailing Vessels). When INS Virat was decommissioned in 2017, INS Vikramaditya, the aircraft carrier is serving the Indian Navy as the flag bearer of Indian Navy fleet. It is equipped with MIG – 29 aircrafts for attacking and bombing on the target.
INS Jalashwa is serving as amphibious transport dock in Indian navy for maintaining the flotilla of landing ship tanks. For guided missile destroyers, Indian Navy has 3 Kolkata Class, 3 Rajput Class and 3 Delhi Class destroyers.
For frigates and corvettes
- 3 Shivalik Class Frigates
- 6 Talvar Class Frigates
- Kamorta, Abhay, Kora, Veer & Khukri Class Corvetts
Indian Naval Air Arm
Indian Naval Air Arm is the Indian Navy wing’s Air Defense branch serving in the cases of air strike, air defense, maritime exploration, and anti-submarine combat. Let’s see the inventory the Indian Naval Air Arm has:
Fixed Wing Aircraft:
- Mikoyan MiG-29K
- Boeing P-8I Neptune
- Ilyushin Il-38
Helicopters
- HAL Dhruv
- Chetak helicopters
- HAL Rudra
- HAL Dhruv MKIII variant
- Westland Sea King
- Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King
UAVs
- Heron and Searcher Mk-II
- MQ-9 Reaper
Submarines:
Till Dec 2020, Indian Navy had INS Chakra (Akula Class) for attacking through the nuclear power. INS Arihant is the ballistic power submarine, while there were 15 conventional attack submarines. Conventional submarines included – Kaveri, Sindhugosh and Shishumar class designs. INS Chakra is on the lease for ten years from Russia.
Weapon systems
Indian Navy has advanced weapon systems developed by own as well as foreign weapon systems. Missile weapon systems include Brahmos (the highly précised land targeting weapon, tested on INS Rajput), Boeing P-8I exploration aircraft, AGM-84L Harpoon Block II missiles and Mk 54 Lightweight Torpedoes.
Barak 1 surface-to-air missile provides the protection against any attack on defense system. Scorpène-class submarines would equip with Exocet anti-ship missile system. Dhanush missile can hit the target with carry nuclear warheads up to 350 kilometers range. K-15 Sagarika SLBM has the range of 700 kilometers.
Electronic warfare systems management
Sangraha electronic warfare system is being developed by DRDO for developing a range of electronic warfare collection in order to detect and intercept with the classifying pulses, carrier wave, and pulse echo frequency alert, frequency alert and chirp radars. These systems can be applied on different platforms such as warships and helicopters etc.
Naval satellite
First Indian Naval Satellite GSAT-7 was launched in 2013 for better communication between different Navy assets. During the operational exercise this system had successfully communicated between 60 ships and 75 aircrafts without any hassle. In 2022, an upgraded version of Rukmini (GSAT-7), GSAT-7R is expected to be launched.
With these highly advanced systems, Indian Navy is ready for any conflict or warfare with any neighboring countries including China and Pakistan. Navy is actively protecting our sea borders in Indian Ocean as well as in the waters of Middle East region. Indian Navy also protects commercial trading ships in sea water trade routes.
