We must celebrate the warships joining our naval fleet

The INS Nilgiri, Surat and Vagsheer demonstrate India's progress in indigenous shipbuilding

- AJAI SHUKLA

The three new warships commissioned into the Indian Navy on 15 January have all been built at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL), India's premier warship builder. INS Surat is the fourth and final Visakhapatnam-class destroyer built under Project 15B; INS Nilgiri is the lead ship of Project 17A, a class of seven multi-role frigates; and INS Vagsheer is the sixth and final Scorpene-class submarine built under Project 75. The first two were designed at the Navy's Directorate of Naval Design, but all three testify to India's growing self-reliance in the critical domains of warship and submarine production.

In 1964, the Emergency Committee of the Cabinet laid down a target of a 140-warship navy. The more recent Maritime Capability Perspective Plan targets 160 ships. Recent Navy chiefs have talked of a 200-ship force architecture, but have signalled that 175 warships would be more realistic. With about 140 functional warships today, India has some distance to go.