Indian Navy
| Indian Navy | |
|---|---|
| भारतीय नौसेना | |
Emblem of the Indian Navy | |
| Founded | 26 January 1950 |
| Country | India |
| Type | Navy |
| Role | Naval warfare, force projection, sealift, nuclear deterrence |
| Size | 64,000 active personnel[1] 50,000 reserve personnel[2] (250 ships including auxiliaries) Approx. 300 aircraft |
| Part of | India Armed Forces |
| Headquarters | Nausena Bhawan, Delhi Cantonment, New Delhi |
| Motto(s) | Shaṁ No Varunaḥ (ISO) transl. 'May the Lord of Water be auspicious to us' (Taken from Taittiriya Upanishad)[3] |
| Colours | Navy blue, gold and white |
| March |
|
| Anniversaries | Navy Day: 4 December |
| Operational fleet | as of January 2024
|
| Engagements | Major wars and operations
|
| Website | Official website |
| Commanders | |
| Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) | Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi |
| Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (VCNS) | Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan |
| Navy Master Chief Petty Officer | Dilbahadur Chhetri, MCERA I |
| Notable commanders |
|
| Insignia | |
| Ensign | |
| National Flag | |
| Pennant | |
| President's Colour | |
| Aircraft flown | |
| Fighter | Mikoyan MiG-29K, Dassault Rafale-M |
| Helicopter | Dhruv, Ka-28, Ka-31, Sea King Mk.42C, UH-3 Sea King, Chetak, Sikorsky MH-60R |
| Utility helicopter | Dhruv |
| Patrol | Boeing P-8 Poseidon, Dornier 228, Britten-Norman BN-2 |
| Reconnaissance | IAI Heron, IAI Searcher Mk II, General Atomics MQ-9B SeaGuardian |
| Trainer | BAE Hawk, HAL HJT-16, Pipistrel Virus, MiG-29KUB |
The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates significantly in the Persian Gulf Region, the Horn of Africa, the Strait of Malacca, and routinely conducts anti-piracy operations with other navies in the region. It also conducts routine two to three month-long deployments in the South and East China seas as well as in the western Mediterranean sea simultaneously.
The primary objective of the navy is to safeguard the nation's maritime borders, and in conjunction with other Armed Forces of the union, act to deter or defeat any threats or aggression against the territory, people or maritime interests of India, both in war and peace. Through joint exercises, goodwill visits and humanitarian missions, including disaster relief, the Indian Navy promotes bilateral relations between nations. Since October 2008, the Indian Navy keeps at least one frontline warship on continuous deployment in the Gulf of Aden.
Aircraft carriers
The Navy has two aircraft carriers in active service, one of which is the INS Vikramaditya, which serves as the flagship of the fleet. Vikramaditya is a modified Kiev-class aircraft carrier procured at a total cost $2.3 billion from Russia in December 2013. A second aircraft carrier, the indigenously built INS Vikrant was commissioned on 2 September 2022. The Navy has an amphibious transport dock of the Austin class, renamed as INS Jalashwa in Indian service. It also maintains a fleet of landing ship tanks.[4]
References
- ↑ "Strength of Defence Forces". Retrieved 31 July 2024.
- ↑ The International Institute of Strategic Studies (14 February 2017). The Military Balance 2017. Routledge, Chapman & Hall, Incorporated. ISBN 9781857439007.
- ↑ A. Mahadev, Shastri (1901). Taittiriya Upanishad. Mysore.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ↑ Students' Britannica India. Popular Prakashan. 2000. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-85229-760-5.