Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 25

A day after a Chinese 'Defence white paper' spoke of increasing the expenditure on their navy, Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh said China’s focus on its navy is “nothing new” and that the Indian Navy had to see how it could match Chinese “intent” given its budget and resources.

Singh was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the international seminar, 'Nation Building through Ship Building', which was organised by the Indian Navy and FICCI here on Thursday.

The Navy chief was asked how he perceived the focus of the Chinese on their navy, to which he said China had been allocating their resources to the navy for long now.

According to a source: “China has been known to make forays into the Indian Ocean. Its submarines have been trawling the open seas. At any given point of time, they have at least 10 warships in the Indian Ocean.”

The Navy chief also spoke of the upcoming submarine and helicopter building project, calling it "vital" for capacity building.

At present, an expert committee is looking into submarine building 'Project 75 I' and an expression of interest has been floated for the Naval Utility Helicopter project.

Singh said he expected the contract for the 24 multi-role helicopters to be materialised by the end of the year. The Navy is in discussion with US-based company Lockheed Martin for the same.

On the proposed second indigenous aircraft carrier, the Navy chief said it would weigh about 65,000 tonnes, would be run on electric propulsion and use the Catapult Launched Take-off But Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR). CATOBAR will be used to launch fighter jets from the deck of the carrier and also allow them to land back on the same deck. India currently uses Short Take-off But Arrested Recovery (STOBAR), that too only on its Russian-origin carrier--the INS Vikramaditya--and also on the under-construction carrier--the INS Vikrant.

Meanwhile, former Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba said if shipbuilding is developed further it could add one lakh jobs to the economy. The Navy's experience with private shipyards in the past decade had been poor, he added.