‘Navy conducting anti-drone ops in North Arabian and Red Sea, will protect anyone in distress’

During the media interaction, when asked about cooperation with other Navies for tackling piracy, the Navy Chief said, “We are cooperating with friendly foreign navies, largely for information exchange. We are the largest resident naval power in the Indian Ocean region. We are not going to permit anybody to disrupt the security, stability and safety in this region.”

“We have deployed a large number of ships, including three to four, near Somalia. India is going to teach a very hard lesson to those who resort to piracy. We have started boarding ships. Every single boat, dhow or vessel we suspect or if we find any piracy triggers, we are taking stringent action. The government promulgating the Anti Piracy Act, 2022, has enabled us to perform our duties better. We are also undertaking anti-drone operations in the North Arabian Sea and Red Sea. Our aim is to protect our countrymen and anyone else who is in distress, irrespective of nationality,” said Admiral R Harikumar.

When asked about a Pakistani crew rescued by the Indian Navy in January, he said, “We have to help whosoever is in distress and we don’t hesitate in doing that. We rescued them from pirates, who tried to take them hostage. Our commandos went and got them released.”

The newly launched facility of the Nibe Limited features 16m and 12m Vertical Machining Centres (VMC). The plant extends support to indigenous modular bridges, Sarvatra bridge system, missile launcher system components fabrication, precision machining among others.

Speaking about the new plant, the Navy vhief said, “A substantial capability has been built in a very short time. It is an important step in the direction of Atma Nirbharta.” The inauguration ceremony was attended by Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt, state industries minister Uday Samant, and chairperson and managing director of the company Ganesh Ramesh Nibe.

“We, as a Navy, have given a commitment to our national leadership that by 2047, we will become Atmanirbhar (self-reliant). For that, the industry has a major role to play. We have the Indian Navy Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation, NIIO, set up two years ago. We have organised Swavalamban (self-reliance) seminars, in which we challenge on what are the technologies we are looking for. Many MSMEs have come forward… we have signed around 118 contracts and orders worth Rs 3,000 crores have been placed,” said Admiral R Harikumar.

When asked about the upcoming MSME Defence Expo in Pune, the Navy Chief said, “The Navy is specially handholding the MSME sector. The expo is a great initiative by the Government of Maharashtra. I am told that more than 1,000 MSMEs are participating. The Navy will have a stall there.”

Stating that there is a challenge of funding MSMEs, the Navy Chief said, “We had suggested that there should be a banking institution for strategic development. This was taken up through the ministry. We are looking at strengthening the Small Industrial Development Bank of India (SIDBI) with a vertical and specialised teams for this purpose.”