While assuring that the Indian Navy would continue to work with all navies operating in the Gulf of Aden, Defence Minister A.k. Antony speaking at the Naval Commanders’ Conference ruled out India becoming a member of any multilateral groupings unless under a UN mandate

The Naval Commanders Conference 2011 began on May 24, 2011 with discussions on operational matters and future plans of the Indian Navy. This biannual forum, under the chairmanship of Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Nirmal Verma is utilised by the top leadership of the Indian Navy to examine the operational readiness, assess the progress made in key projects and initiate functional, organisational and administrative steps necessary to further enhance the Indian Navy’s readiness for current and emerging challenges.

In his inaugural address, the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) observed, “With the security situation being fluid, we need to maintain the organisational ability to deploy ships, submarines and aircraft at immediate notice.” he acknowledged the yeomen efforts put in by all naval personnel as they spent longer hours at work and many more days at sea owing to increasing demands of maritime security. he exhorted the fact that maintenance of war-fighting abilities remains the topmost priority despite a large number of peacetime commitments at hand.

Talking about coastal security, the CNS commended achievement of high level of effectiveness with increased patrolling and synergised efforts with all stakeholders. he further stated that the ongoing thrust on anti-piracy operations will also need to be sustained.

The criticality of maritime domain awareness (MDA) to all aspects of maritime operations was highlighted, and the CNS lauded the vision and contribution of the Indian Navy in the national command, control, communication and intelligence network (NC3I). The CNS noted with satisfaction the extent of network-centric capabilities employed by all i.e. surface, air and subsurface elements during the last major exercise of theatre-level readiness operational exercises (TROPEX). he stressed upon the prime importance of security of these networks and information systems for seamless and swift operations.

Discussions on the force level accretion in accordance with the Navy’s Maritime Capability Perspective Plan (MCPP) will focus on how best to leverage the new procedures (as per the revised DPP 2011) so as to build ships at a faster pace with international benchmarks of costs and quality. The CNS stated that almost all naval ships planned to be inducted in the next 15 years would be built in India.

While inaugurating the Commanders’ Conference, Defence Minister A.k. Antony emphasised on the need to take stock of the level of operational preparedness from time to time in view of the volatile neighbourhood and the challenges of the Indian Ocean Rim (IOR). he reiterated that ‘recent incidents in our neighbourhood’ have strongly underlined the need to maintain a constant vigil. Describing piracy as a continuing cause of major concern, he said the menace needed a concerted effort and a collective response from the inter=national community. While assuring that the Indian Navy would continue to work with all navies operating in the Gulf of Aden, he ruled out India becoming a member of any multilateral groupings unless under a UN mandate.