The Hindu : Major navies keen on holding joint exercises with India

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Wednesday, Sep 24, 2003

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Major navies keen on holding joint exercises with India

By Our Special Correspondent

India's second stealth frigate, INS Trishul, entering the Mumbai harbour on Tuesday. — Photo: Vivek Bendre

MUMBAI Sept. 23. Navies of major maritime powers are keen on calling on Indian ports and conduct exercises with the Indian Navy and the latter welcomes such opportunities with a view to exchanging notes with them, the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command, Arun Prakash, has said.

Speaking to reporters on board INS Trishul, the second stealth frigate, after welcoming it at the Mumbai harbour today, Vice-Admiral Prakash said the Navies of other countries might want to assess the Indian Navy's technologies and learn about its tactics.

He said the chief of the U.S. Navy would be coming to India on a two-day visit from October 13. His visit would be followed by a visit by the U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander. The First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy (the British naval chief) would be visiting the Indian naval establishments shortly.

A number of foreign warships were expected to call at the Indian ports and some of them would hold joint exercises. These interactions came on top of continuous goodwill visits of several Indian ships.

INS Trishul, commissioned at St. Petersburg last June, came home after two-months' sailing, calling on the African coast. It is a 4,000-tonne guided missile frigate. Like her sister, elder by some days, INS Talwar, she can undertake any mission on the spectrum of naval warfare — air, surface, sub-surface, littoral and blue waters — and can operate as a single unit or a consort ship of a task force. Several designs and other measures make it difficult to detect this kind of ship, making it somewhat "stealth".

Her weapon suit includes vertically-launched Club missiles, capable of hitting a target at 200 miles, multi channel anti-aircraft missile system, anti-aircraft radar-controlled gun system and a 100 mm main gun capable of firing 100 rounds a minute. Besides, this Talwar class operates Kamov 31 helicopter for airborne early warning.

For anti-submarine warfare, she has an advanced torpedo system and a multi-barrel rocket launcher. The frigate has a wide variety of sensors.

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