Time ripe for indigenous warships: Naval Chief

"Indian Navy is poised for growth and the time to conceptualise an indigenous warship building system has come. Also, a serious relook at the inefficiencies of Navy is required," Verma said at the launch of warship INS Kochi, a Delhi-class destroyer, at the Mazgaon dock in south Mumbai.
Verma said, "Fluctuating funding in the past has compelled the Navy to resort to (warship) building in abroad, but now there is an urgent need to emulate worldwide trends in warship building (in the country)."
The 6,500-tonne INS Kochi, launched by Verma's wife Madulika, is the second warship in the 'Project 15-A' under which three guided-missile destroyers with stealth and multi-role features will be built.
"The destroyer has been launched using pontoon-assisted technique, employed for the first time in the history of indigenous warship building. The technique helps in overcoming slipway constraints which hinder heavier vessel movement into deeper waters for fitting its superstructures  such as decks," chairman and managing director of Mazgaon Dock H S Malhi said.
INS Kochi has advanced stealth features that make it less vulnerable to detection by enemy radar. Its weapons system include nuclear capable supersonic BrahMos surface-to-surface missile.
Navy's responsibilities increased
Admiral Verma said that responsibilities of the Indian Navy have increased post 26/11 terror attacks and suggested to bring all coastal vigilance agencies "under a single security magnet."
"After last year's 26/11 attack, responsibilities in terms of coastal security have increased. We should bring all agencies involved in the coastal vigilance like Marine Police and Customs under one security magnet and ensure effective co-ordination," Verma said.
Asserting that the personnel learnt several lessons at a Navy exercise conducted in Western Naval Command recently, he said, "more exercises should be conducted to enable us to keep pace with security challenges".
Stating that more aircrafts would be procured to strengthen the Navy, the Naval chief affirmed that with more equipment, "we will find ourselves confident in facing most difficult of situation we may face at sea route."