The Navy has unveiled a 15-year plan to achieve full indigenisation in all phases of warship construction, from ship-building to systems to weapons, and aligned it with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India.” The Navy wants to involve private industry in a big way in this initiative.
The Indian Naval Indigenisation Plan 2015-2030 is aimed at enabling the development of equipment and systems through the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian industry over a 15-year period, the Navy said in a statement.
A warship can be broadly divided into three segments — float, move and fight. The Navy has achieved 90 per cent indigenisation in the float category, while the move (propulsion) and fight (weapons) components stand at 60 and 30 per cent respectively, which are priority areas to be addressed.
Among platforms, a major area of concern is helicopters. “This is one area where there is a huge opportunity for indigenisation of our future naval aviation assets,” Navy Chief Admiral R.K. Dhowan said last week.
The Navy issued its first 15-year indigenisation plan in 2003 and then revised it in 2008. The current revision was done to dovetail it with the ‘Make in India’ pitch. The Navy has individual plans for capacity augmentation — the Indian Maritime Capability Perspective Plan for fleet augmentation, Maritime Infrastructure Augmentation Plan and the Maritime Cooperation Roadmap all of which are from 2012 to 2027.
The plan’s objective is to have a 200-ship navy by 2027 as was recently stated by Vice Chief of Navy Vice Admiral P. Murugesan.
