Future of the Indian Navy

Naval Ensign of India

Indian navy Carrier Battle Group in formation, showing some of the latest additions to the fleet.

The Indian Navy has been focusing on developing indigenous platforms, systems, sensors and weapons as part of the nation's modernisation and expansion of its maritime forces. As of 2014 the Indian Navy has 41 vessels of various types under construction including; an aircraft carrier, destroyers, frigates, corvettes, conventional and nuclear-powered submarines. In 2013 a senior naval official, Rear Admiral Atul Kumar Jain, outlined the Indian Navy's intention to build a 200 ship navy over a 10-year period.^[1] According to Chief of Naval Staff Admiral RK Dhowan, India has transformed from a buyer's navy to a builder's navy.^[2] All 41 ships under construction are being produced indigenous in Indian ships yards, both publicly and privately owned.^[3] However some projects have suffered from long delays and cost overruns.^[4]

Increasing People's Liberation Army Navy interest in the Indian Ocean region^[5] has led the Indian Navy to invest more in anti-submarine ships, such as the Kamorta-class corvette, long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft, and ships such as the Saryu-class patrol vessel^[6] and unmanned aerial vehicles such as the IAI Heron-1.^[7] However the lack of a strong submarine fleet have diminished its capabilities to some extent.^[8]

Submarines

Nuclear-powered

Class	Picture	Type	No. of Boats	Origin	Displacement	Status	Note
Arihant class		Ballistic Missile Submarine (SSBN)	3 to 6	India	6,000 tonnes	1 in sea trials, 1 Being outfitted	Exact number of planned submarines remains unclear, some media outlets reported three others four, some others five or 6.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15] The first boat of the class, INS Arihant, is expected to be commissioned by early 2016.[16] The second boat, INS Aridhaman, is being prepared for sea trials.
Indigenous SSN class		Attack Submarine (SSN)	6	India	6,000 tonnes[17]	6 planned	Six boats are planned and are expected to be constructed at the Shipbuilding Centre (SBC) at Visakhapatnam. Expertise gained in the construction of the Arihant class SSBNs will be transferred to the SSN project.[18] Project clearance was granted by the Cabinet Committee on Security in February 2015.[19]
Akula class		Attack Submarine (SSN)	1	Russia	12,770 tonnes	1 planned	Negotiations underway with Russia to lease a second Akula class attack submarine.[20]

Conventional

Class	Picture	Type	No. of Boats	Origin	Displacement	Status	Note
Kalvari-class		Attack submarine	6	India	1,800 tonnes	1 undergoing sea trials 5 under construction	Lead submarine INS Kalvari undergoing sea trials from October 2015.[21][22] Project delayed by four years. The first submarine is planned to be in service by 2016 and the last by 2020.[23] Option for additional 6 more submarines are available under the contract.[24]
Project 75I-class submarine		Attack submarine	6	India		6 planned	As of October 2014, the Defence Acquisition Council has cleared the purchase of six submarines worth ₹ 53,000 crore from local ships yards.[25]

Midget submarines

Class	Picture	Type	No. of Boats	Origin	Displacement	Status	Note
Swimmer Delivery Vehicle		Midget submarine	2	India	150 tonnes	2 planned	Hindustan Shipyard Limited[26] will construct two midget submarine at an estimated cost of ₹ 2,000 crore. SOVs will be used by MARCOS for conducting special operations.[25]

Ships

Aircraft Carriers

Name	Picture	No. of Ships	Origin	Displacement	Status	Note
INS Vikrant		1	India	40,000 tonnes	under construction	Sea trials expected to commence in 2016. INS Vikrant is planned to join the Eastern Naval Command in 2018.[27]
INS Vishal		1	India	65,000 tonnes	Planned[28]	INS Vishal is likely to be a Nuclear-Powered Supercarrier with EMALS CATOBAR system to launch and recover aircraft. The decision regarding ships air-wing still remains unclear, some experts believe that it may consist of naval variant of; Tejas Mk II, HAL AMCA, DRDO AURA that the Indian Navy may choose to develop, AEW aircraft and Mid-Air Refuelling Tankers.

Amphibious warfare ships

Class	Picture	Type	No. of Ships	Origin	Displacement	Status	Note
Multi-Role Support Vessel		Landing helicopter dock	4	India	21,000 to 27,000 tonnes	4 planned	Only Indian shipyards partnered with an international shipyard can participate in the programme. The Indian Navy is yet to select a design which meets its specification.[29]

Destroyers and frigates

Class	Picture	Type	No. of Ships	Origin	Displacement	Status	Note
Kolkata class		Stealth guided missile destroyer	3	India	7,500 tonnes	2 commissioned 1 under construction	INS Kolkata (D63) and INS Kochi (D64) commissioned in August 2014 and September 2015, respectively. Remaining ship INS Chennai to enter service in 2016.[30]
Visakhapatnam class		Stealth guided missile destroyer	4	India	8,000 tonnes	2 under construction 2 planned	Follow on of the Kolkata class with improved stealth features.
Project 17A-class frigate		Stealth guided missile frigate	7	India	6,670 tonnes	7 planned[31]	Four ships will be constructed by Mazagon Dock while the remaining three by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers.
Talwar-class frigate		Stealth guided missile frigate	4		4035 tonnes	4 Planned	India and Russia are negotiating for building additional four more Talwar frigates for the Indian Navy.[32]

Corvettes

Class	Picture	Type	No. of Ships	Origin	Displacement	Status	Note
Kamorta class		Corvette (ASW)	4 (+8)	India	3,400 tonnes	2 under construction 2 commissioned (8 follow-on vessels planned)	Short-range SAMs, towed array sonars and anti-submarine helicopters are currently not available for the class.[33] A further eight Kamorta class corvettes (Project 28A) are planned.
ASW Shallow Water Craft		Corvette (ASW)	16	India	700 tonnes	16 planned	The Ministry of Defence (MoD) issued a tender under the “Buy and Make India” category to local shipyards like ABG Shipyard, Larsen & Toubro, Pipavav Defence, Offshore Engineering and other state owned shipyards.[34]
Next Generation Missile Vessels		Corvette (ASuW)	6	India		6 planned	In January 2015, the Ministry of Defence issued Request For Information (RFI) a for 6 next-gen missile vessels under the "Buy Indian and Make Indian" category.[35] The vessels will feature low RCS, magnetic and IR signatures.[36]

Mine countermeasure vessels

Class	Picture	Type	No. of Ships	Origin	Displacement	Status	Note
Future Indian minehunter class		Minesweeper	12	India		12 planned	In February 2015, the Ministry of Defence approved the building of 12 minesweepers at a cost of ₹ 32,000 crore in Goa Shipyard Ltd.[37]

Patrol vessels

Class	Picture	Type	No. of Ships	Origin	Displacement	Status	Note
Pipavav NOPV Class		Offshore patrol vessel	5	India	2,000 tonnes	5 under construction	As of 2015, 5 are under construction with deliveries to start in June 2016.[38]
Follow on Waterjet Fast Attack Craft		Fast Attack Craft	4	India	315 tonnes	3 completed 1 under construction	On March 2013 an order was placed for an improved variant of Car Nicobar-class patrol vessel. Improvements include an enhanced electrical power generation capacity of 280 kW and reverse osmosis capacity at 4 tonnes per day.[39]

Utility and Special Mission ships

Class	Picture	Type	No. of Ships	Origin	Displacement	Status	Note
		Missile Range Instrumentation Ship	1	India		Planned[40]
		Multi-Utility Vessels	4	India	3,500 tonnes	4 Planned[41]

Replenishment ships

Class	Picture	Type	No. of Ships	Origin	Displacement	Status	Note
		Replenishment oiler	5	India	40,000 tonnes	5 planned	The Defence Ministry cleared the tender for purchase of five ships at a cost of ₹ 9,000 crore. Request for proposal would be sent to all Indian private and public sector shipyards.[42]

Survey vessels

Class	Picture	Type	No. of Ships	Origin	Displacement	Status	Note
Makar class		Survey vessel	6	India	500 tonnes	1 commissioned 5 under construction	The class is also capable of limited search and rescue missions.

Aircraft

Type	Picture	Role	No. of airframes	Origin	Status	Note
Naval Tejas Mk II		Carrier Borne Multi-role Fighter	40 to 50[43]	India	Under development (flight trials phase)	Naval variant of HAL Tejas. A prototype (NP-1) is currently under flight testing.[44] The Indian Navy plans has a requirement for 40 or 50 Tejas to equip two front-line squadrons for the aircraft carriers INS Vikramaditya and INS Vikrant.[45][46]
ShinMaywa US-2		Air-sea rescue (SAR)	12	Japan	Planned	Indian navy intends to acquire 12 US-2 amphibian aircraft for conducting long-range search-and-rescue operations at cost of $1.65 billion. Two US-2 will be directly imported and remaining 10 will be assembled locally in India.[47]
Sikorsky S-70		Multi-Role Helicopter	16		Under Procurement	The navy is expected to acquire 16 naval multi-role helicopters under a $1 billion deal. After year’s field trials and evaluation the Navy has selected the Sikorsky S 70 B multi-role helicopters to replace the ageing Sea King helicopters. The S 70 B has superseded the European NH 90.[48]
Medium Range Maritime Reconnaissance Aircraft		Reconnaissance and SAR missions.	6		Under Procurement	The Indian Navy issued an RFP for six medium-range maritime reconnaissance (MRMR) aircraft. The possible contenders are; the ATR-72MP/ATR-42MP, the EADS C-295MPA/C-235MPA, the Dassault's Falcon 900MPA and the Embraer P-99A. The procurement number has been enhanced to nine as per news reports in February 2012.[49]

See also

• List of active Indian Navy ships

References