Underlining the Navy’s stress on self-reliance, Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi on Tuesday said one new indigenous warship or submarine is being added to the force every 40 days as he outlined his force’s focus on building sovereign capabilities in the maritime domain to deal with myriad security challenges.
The Indian Navy has embraced ‘aatmanirbharta’ (self-reliance) not only as a strategic imperative, but also as an investment towards future assurance, he said, adding the force aims to operate over 200 warships and submarines by 2035.
Admiral Tripathi, speaking at the India Defence Conclave hosted by Bharat Shakti, identified self-reliance, synergy and security as three major pillars for any maritime power and asserted that the Indian Navy was moving towards bolstering its overall might.
“On an average, one new indigenous warship or submarine is being added to the Indian Navy every 40 days. As we look to become a 200-plus ship Navy by 2035, all of our 52 ships presently on order are being built in Indian shipyards,” he said.
“Moving beyond platforms, our aim is to take aatmanirbharta (self-reliance) to component level and build a fully aatmanirbhar force by 2047,” he said.
The Indian Navy currently operates around 145 ships and submarines.
In his remarks, Admiral Tripathi underlined the need for locally-developed defence capabilities to combat future security challenges and even argued that indigenous strength extends far beyond the battlefields.
“It is now enmeshed with industrial ecosystems, innovation chains, and information networks, where semiconductors can be as decisive as submarines, and secure dala links matter as much as secure sea lanes,” he said.
“In my view, three enablers anchor this strength, self-reliance, synergy and security, each reinforcing the other, and together defining a modern maritime power,” he said.
Admiral Tripathi, delving into geopolitical powerplay, said “alignment of convenience” was not the Indian Navy’s priority as it is focusing on “convergence of purpose and principle” in forging collaborations.
“As we advance towards our vision of becoming Viksit Bharat or a developed country by 2047, partnerships, for us, would never be an alignment of convenience; but remain a convergence of purpose and principle,” he said.
“Our endeavour would be to translate indigenous strength and purposeful partnerships to nurture a region that is free, open, inclusive and rules-based, not by circumstance, but by collective choice and sustained commitment,” he said. The Navy Chief also noted that India’s approach of self-reliance or aatmanirbharta today is moving beyond ‘Make in India’ to ‘Trust in India’.
“Nowhere is this more visible than in the defence sector. India’s defence production has more than tripled over the last decade and crossed over `1.5 lakh crore last year,” he said.
Admiral Tripathi also highlighted India’s vision of MAHASAGAR or Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the MAHASAGAR vision for India’s engagement with the Global South during his visit to Mauritius in March.
“At sea, the Indian Navy has operationalised this approach through trust, transparency, and concrete steps, involving coordinated patrols and surveillance missions; maritime domain awareness initiatives, humanitarian assistance and rescue missions; and exercises that deepen trust and interoperability,” Admiral Tripathi said.
