Around 3,000 Agniveers have joined Indian Navy

Under the most ambitious scheme of the Central government, Agnipath, around 3,000 Agniveers have joined Indian Navy. Most importantly with 341 women, female participation is very much significant. Not only this, the Indian Navy is inducting women sailors for the first time.

The above data is provided by the Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumartoday while he was addressing the press conference ahead of Navy Day. Chief of Naval Staff said that the Indian Navy has given assurances to the government that it will become ‘Atmanirbhar’ (self-reliant) by 2047. He said the Navy keeps a strong vigil over the movements of various Chinese military and research vessels in the Indian Ocean Region. He said the Indian Navy achieved a very high operational tempo in the last one year and there has been greater emphasis on the criticality of maritime security as India marches ahead.

“The government has given us clear guidelines on Atmanirbhar Bharat. We have given assurances that the Indian Navy will become Aatmanirbhar by 2047,” the Navy Chief said. Admiral Hari Kumar also said that operationally, the Navy had a very intense and engaging time in the last one year. Commissioning of aircraft carrier INS Vikrant was a landmark event for India, he said. The Navy Chief said his force aims to have Made-in-India security solutions for the country. Indian Navy achieved very high operational tempo in last one year, he added.

Highlights of Navy chief address:

The case for the proposed procurement of a fleet of Predator drones from the US is under process. The original proposal was to procure 30 MQ-9B Predator armed drones at a cost of over USD 3 billion to crank up India’s surveillance apparatus along the frontier with China as well as in the Indian Ocean region.

The MQ-9B drone is a variant of the MQ-9 “Reaper” which was used to launch a modified version of the Hellfire missile that eliminated al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in the heart of Kabul last month. In 2020, the Indian Navy had taken on lease two MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones from General Atomics for a period of one year for surveillance in the Indian Ocean. The lease period has been extended subsequently.

India has gained good experiences while operating leased drones. The Indian Navy has been bolstering its surveillance mechanism to monitor growing Chinese activities, including frequent forays by PLA warships in the Indian Ocean Region. The procurement proposal for the armed drones has been moved by the Indian Navy and all three services are likely to get 10 drones each. The drone is the first hunter-killer unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed for long-endurance and high-altitude surveillance.

The MQ-9B has signals intelligence and communications intelligence systems integrated onboard, but it can take any number of other custom sensors as necessary.