Programmes for the modernisation of maritime surveillance systems and defence capability building should focus on strengthening India’s economic interests and protection of maritime sovereignty. It is, therefore, essential that military and economic applications complement each other, Vice Admiral A.R. Karve, Flag Officer Commanding in Chief of the Southern Naval Command, said.
Addressing a three-day international conference on sonar systems and sensors, ICONS-2018, organised by the DRDO’s Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) at Karukutty near here on Saturday, he said that the Indian economy was largely dependent on maritime resources. “We are now in the era of integrated monitoring of water, preserving our status as a global economic player without compromising security,” he added.
Vice Admiral Karve said that most Indian naval ships and submarines were equipped with indigenous systems developed by the DRDO and similar organisations.
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“In my experience on the sonar side, the performance of Indian sonars is found to be on par with any advanced foreign sonars available today,” he added.
The Vice Admiral also brought out the requirement of specific and generic training simulators for training the naval community so as to make them capable of operating all classes of weapons and detection systems at sea without fail.