Navy's indigenous carrier building project at Cochin is on as per the schedule and the ship is expected in 2012.

More greenfield projects for Navy: Mehta

Press Trust of India / New Delhi May 09, 2008



To strengthen Indian Navy, more greenfield projects were needed to enhance production of vessels, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sureesh Mehta said today.



"The Ministry of Shipping is setting up one ship building yard on each of the two coasts (east and west). Somebody must set up more greenfield projects for ship building as operational yards as the Mazgaon Docks Limited have limitations (of capacity)," Admiral Mehta said, after the conclusion of a two-day Naval Commanders Conference.


"We will also see more of private partnerships in the area", he said, adding that construction major L&T has expressed interest in putting up such a project and have plans to place orders with the company in the near future.


Ideally, the country needs two operational aircraft carriers and other ships. Efforts are on to have three aircraft carriers in the fleet while 34 ships and six submarines are already being constructed to take the total number of ships to 160, he added.


He further said that right now the country does not have an operational aircraft carrier and the situation could have been averted, had aircraft carrier 'Vikramaditya' arrived on time. The ship is expected from Russia in three years' time.


The indigenous carrier building project at Cochin is on as per the schedule and the ship is expected in 2012. "The facility is expected to be used as a permanent carrier building line and will produce a carrier after the completion of the first ship. One more will be ready by the time 'Vikramaditya' retires," he said.


The Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov (re-christened as Vikramaditya) is currently undergoing refurbishment and the project was delayed due to cost escalation factors.


Meanwhile, Admiral Mehta also endorsed the use of the time-saving block-wise system of ship building as compared to the "keel-up" concept traditionally adopted by India yards.


"Ships are divided into five blocks and built simultaneously at different locations, thereby saving time. During a visit to UK, I saw each block was of around 1,500 tonnes but I will ask the Cochin yard making the aircraft carrier to consider building blocks of 350-400 tonnes each," Admiral Mehta said.


Admiral Mehta also said that the Navy will be implementing the "Network Centric Operations" programme under which platforms under sea, on it and in the air are integrated with a single communications platform.


The implementation of the project which gives a clear picture on the surroundings will start by this year-end on one platform per time. The programme is being carried out in-house and with the help of companies like Satyam Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services can be sought for developing software for the system, Mehta said.


Meanwhile, the chief of naval staff also said that in the wake of increased economic prosperity, the country also needs to enhance the numbers of merchant ships for transportation of civilian goods and tankers for energy security.

navy-police skirmishes at kochi- THE REAL STORY

btw,i'm a naval officer presently posted at kochi itself... since we remain quiet,media and general public takes us for granted, seriously wen have u seen or heard any defence guy misbehaving wid sum civilian ever,except in news or frm police's mouth???
Well,here at kochi,the case is pretty interesting,which no one else will ever know...the place where these three guys had parked their bikes is not sum main road,its just behind our naval base,and is a completely secluded place... not even 5 cars pass from there in one day, believe me...its not even a main road,its like a circular path in between sum buildings...
next thing,wat were naval guys doing there???there's a juice bar ,and all of us regularly go there to have juices after our runs/exercises/games... its just 100 metres frm our naval base...
so one police havaldar came and took out keys frm these bikes (we have been so regular at the juice bar that we even leave our helmets and keys wid bikes,again BECAUSE no one else comes there!!!).. wen our guys objected,he said... this is NO PARKING!!! the naval officers said, where's d "no parking" board??? and show us your identity.... so he got angry,"U WANT TO SEE KERALA POLICE'S IDENTITY??" .. then he called up his comrades-in-arms who came and beat up these three officers and took them into custody!!!!!
the moment this news reached naval base (just 100 metres away), everyone got excited, coz one of these three guys beaten up n arrested by police was a lieutenant Commander, a pretty senior officer....
so many youngsters (again not 100 or 120, but around 30-40 of them) .these guys went to police station and pelted stones... but then naval senior officers came and called everyone back....that still shud have been the end to story,coz the senior officers even got these arrested officers released.....
all this happened at 2100 hrs, and the matter ended.... but by then the main police station of kochi came to know abt the incident.. and guess wat they did??? at 2300 hrs, that is 2 (YES, COMPLETE TWO) hrs after that... their gypsy came and caught 3 other officers from the main road which leads frm the city to the naval base (not the original three ones, they had been released and were in hospital by now), these unfortunate guys were coming after having dinner from outside in city... hence these guys were caught, beaten up mercilessly to prove police's superiority and then charged under "ATTEMPT TO MURDER" which is one of only three reasons (including rape and culpable homicide) for which a defence officer can be arrested.....
and since this is an attempt to murder case, hence court hasnt granted them bail yet.... and so these three guys are still in CENTRAL JAIL!!!!! AND THEN U WANT ARMED FORCES TO BE MOTIVATED AND HAVE A HIGH MORALE????
see,i dont know wat a civilian thinks and how much a normal person understands abt the fabric of armed forces.... we guys have such a job in which getting killed is as normal as getting fired from office is for a normal person in a private job.... the indian armed forces are respected for the discipline,which comes from respecting and following ur seniors so much so that u r ready to lay ur life for him... and wen u find that the same senior has been beaten by these corrupt cops widout any reason,why shud one control??? we r not sum civilians.. we r also men in uniform.... the guys who have been beaten and arrested are gazzetted officers, senior to an "assistant commissioner of police".. and as per constitution they cannot be arrested like that!!! and still policemen beat them mercilessly and arrest them.. and wat do u expect us in armed forces to do??? satyagrah like mahatma gandhi???
this is actually a dangerous situation..... if things keep happening this way,wat will happen to the morale of armed forces... and tomorrow, wen war comes, or tsunami comes, or even a major riot breaks out.... all the public and netas will again look at the armed forces to save them, and expect the ARMED FORCES to be at their best in spite of all this humiliation we face every day..... thats the irony of our country and thats how its happening..... JAI HIND.