The Hindu : Front Page : Arun Prakash named New Navy Chief

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Sunday, Aug 01, 2004

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Front Page

Arun Prakash named New Navy Chief

By Vinay Kumar

— Photo: Sandeep Saxena

TAKING CHARGE: New Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Arun Prakash (left) receiving the Chief's baton from outgoing Chief Admiral Madhvendra Singh in New Delhi on Saturday.

NEW DELHI, JULY 31. The new Naval Chief, Admiral Arun Prakash, today said that his main priority would be to augment the present force levels and go in for the acquisition of more modern warships, including nuclear submarines.

"The Navy needs nuclear submarines but it is up to the Government to take a decision in this regard,'' Admiral Prakash told mediapersons soon after taking over from the outgoing Naval chief, Admiral Madhvendra Singh, to become the 20th Chief. Admiral Arun Prakash said that his force also faced equipment and manpower shortages. "We have to convince the Government; we need to overcome shortages,'' he said.

There were reports in the recent past that India was negotiating with Russia to acquire on lease two nuclear-powered `Akula' class submarines. Admiral Prakash, who has the distinction of being a Naval fighter pilot donning the Indian Air Force uniform in the 1971 war to win the `Vir Chakra', said the force levels in the Navy were dwindling and there was an urgent need to arrest this. He emphasised the importance of "network centric'' warfare and work in this direction would be done by interlinking long range missiles, radars and sensors on the naval warships through satellite and info-tech to deliver a lethal punch.

`Admiral Gorshkov'

He said that though the Navy's "big ticket'' acquisitions such as the 28,000-tonne aircraft carrier `Admiral Gorshkov' from Russia were a "must'', it urgently needed modern submarines, minesweepers and ultra-fast offshore patrol vessels. Admiral Madhvendra Singh, too had urged the Government for an early clearance of the two billion euro deal to acquire the `Scorpene' hunter class submarines from France.

Stressing that defence deals needed speeding up, he said the Government was aware of it and was in the process of streamlining the weapons acquisition process.

A graduate of the National Defence Academy, Khadagwasla, in June 1964, he specialised in aviation, and qualified as a pilot on the Sea Hawk jet fighter in 1968. He has served afloat in command of the missile boat INS Chatak, the frigates INS Beas and INS Vindhyagiri, and the aircraft carrier INS Viraat. He is the recipient of the Vishist Seva Medal, the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and the Param Vishisht Seva Medal for distinguished services.

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