Sputnik (New Delhi) — The Indian Navy's second in command, Vice Admiral P. Murugesan has said that India will be able to establish robust maritime security only when the Navy is equipped with at least 50 more ships and submarines and increases the current availability of helicopters and aircraft by 3-4 times.
"Threat does not see the budget. While the threat is growing steadily, the budget (for defense procurement) is growing slowly," Murugesan said.
Currently, India has 138 submarines and ships. Another 46 ships are under construction at different dockyards within the country. According to Defense Ministry sources, half of the ships, currently operational, are going to be retired soon. Even if we add the under-construction ships to the current strength, the number will be far less that what is actually required. To meet the requirement of ships alone, Indian Navy will require a fund of more than $20 billion.
The Indian Army is also facing a serious crunch of helicopters and aircraft.
"Today there are 233 aircraft in the Indian navy. Ideally, this should increase by 3-4 times. Once we reach there, then only will we be able to make sure a robust maritime security mechanism has been established," according to Vice Admiral Murugesan.
Though the Indian Navy relies on indigenous vendors for most of its needs, in the most expensive weapons category, indigenization is less than 30 percent as Indian vendors currently lack the capacity to independently design, develop and produce such weapons. Therefore, they will have to collaborate with foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers. This has opened the gates for foreign weapons manufacturers to mint handsome money by entering into collaborations with Indian firms.
