The Indian Navy (IN) has made orders for 39 warships during the 11th Plan period 2007-12 from state-owned Indian Shipbuilding Yards to augment its fast dwindling fleet strength. These orders include fast attack craft, landing ships (tank), frigates, destroyers, offshore patrol vessels, submarines and an aircraft carrier.

Considering that shipbuilding in the country is a fledgling industry and shipyards are characterized by limited capacity and technological obsolescence the scope for slippage in deadlines is immense. Problems in steel imports which form a core input for shipbuilding also add to delays. The time taken to commission a warship from design to production stage is around 4 -5 years.

The government needs to make timely sanctions to avoid attrition of the fleet strength. No wonder former Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Arun Prakash had highlighted the concern in naval circles that unless we accelerate our warship production we may be heading for a crisis. 

Today the Indian Navy's 16 submarines are largely old, with the last EKM 877 commissioned into service in 1990. Two more special acquisitions were made in 1997 and 2000. Invariably a submarine has an operational life of 20-25 years which implies that a major component of the Indian submarine fleet would be due for replacement over the next five years.

The track record in submarine building at the Mazagaon Docks Ltd at Mumbai has not been particularly encouraging and hence the navy is keen to develop its new submarine production line at private sector shipyards. The navy today also suffers from a major gap in maritime surveillance with its Russian built Tupolev-142 and Illyushin-38 long range maritime patrol aircraft due for retirement.

The Indian Navy has a fleet strength of 145 vessels with half of them ocean-going and the others assigned to coastal duties. Today the navy is working towards extending its reach given an enhanced area of responsibility with rising demands of energy security in the context of India's investments in Sakhalin and Venezuela. Moreover the navy has also raised its profile in South East Asian waters through exercises with ASEAN navies and others.

Therefore the Indian Navy is looking at warship platforms with longer ranges. However new warship acquisitions prove problematic because of bureaucratic delays. The government should therefore have a warship building schedule to ensure that there is no compromise in the navy's operational preparedness.