India to get Admiral Gorshkov, nuke sub next yr: Antony

India will get aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov and nuclear submarine INS Arihant next year providing a much needed boost to country's naval capabilities.

Wrapping up a discussion on the performance of his Ministry in the Rajya Sabha, Defence Minister A K Antony today said from 2013, the Navy will get five new warships every year which will help in modernising country's naval fleet.

"In the early half of next year, aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (Admiral Gorshkov) will sail to Indian shores and the strategic indigenous submarine also would be inducted by the middle of next year," he said.

Admiral Gorshkov is undergoing trials in Russia and is expected to be commissioned into the Navy on December 4.

India and Russia had signed a deal in 2004 for the aircraft carrier which will arrive in the country after a delay of four years.

The Defence Minister said a nuclear submarine INS Chakra has also been leased from Russia and the "Navy was in the process of being strengthened".

Commenting on defence research programmes in the country, Antony said despite
Technology Denial Regimes (TDR), the DRDO has made the country proud with achievements such as Agni-5.

"Now they are aiming for going further," he said.

On the Defence Estates Organisation (DEO), he said the Government has moved ahead with policy of holding preliminary inquiries if there was any complaint and if any wrongdoing was found, "we will not spare anybody whosoever that person may be. We will protect every inch of defence land. That is what happened in the case of Adarsh."

"We did the same in Kandivali, Srinagar and Pune land scams also," he said.