Navy’s new tech warriors

Ajay Banerjee at Ezhimala (Kerala)

A cadet at the Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala, Kerala, has ended a five-minute talk on ‘military-positives’ of  a World War II (1939-1945) campaign in North Africa led by US Army’s General George Patton. The Cadet’s guide and mentor, Lieutenant Commander Munish Sethi, responds: “Give me a three-point take-away. Always summarize to end it.”

A study of such military campaigns, including Pearl Harbour (Japanese attack on the US) or bombing of Karachi harbour and oil-refinery by the Indian Navy in 1971 is now a new module for the four-year training course at the Academy. A concept of ‘soft-skills’ teaches young cadets (aged 18-23 years) about current affairs, India’s relations with countries such as the US, Russia and China, key energy supply routes at sea and importance of dominating the trade-routes. These-soon-to-be-officers will be on warships operating in international waters, coordinating with other navies.

These new 328 cadets will be India’s military face in its ‘look east’ policy and managing relations with Indian Ocean islands and countries which routinely need humanitarian assistance, oceanographic study and patrolling of their exclusive economic zones. The training gels with the fast-expanding role of the Indian Navy which, now routinely patrols in the Red Sea, Indian ocean, Gulf of Aden, Straits of Malacca (through which flows half of world trade by volume) besides visits to Russia, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Hawaii and Australia.

On November 22, Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba will be at this 2,500-acre, sea-facing campus when another batch of Naval officers is commissioned.

Uniquely, this will be the first batch that has undergone the modified training regime that has study of military campaigns, country-specific study and public-speaking besides the usual military discipline. The officers will hold a BTech degree approved by the All India Council of Technical Education and know at least one foreign language out of Russian, Arabic, French and Chinese. Also, they are trained to fight a war at sea — on board warships, fighter jets, surveillance planes, helicopters, submarines and radars. 

Commandant of the Academy, Vice Admiral SV Bhokare, who has overseen the transition, terms his wards as ‘tech-warriors’. “Today a sound technical mind is needed to be a good soldier. We are already in the beyond-visual-range missile era and satellite-guided systems,” he said.

New training

The Navy has to shape 18-year-olds into officers. “We have to groom them for conflict, but also like a ‘diplomatic-uniformed’ force”, says Rear Admiral MD Suresh, the Deputy Commandant of the Academy. 

The dreaded ‘front roll’, a form of punishment in military academies, has been done away with.  These boys come from ‘science backgrounds’ and are slowly conditioned as per specially designed exercises. Military fitness has benchmarks for running, horse-riding, sailing besides swimming that is taught at an Olympic-sized indoor pool, named after the legendary Capt MN Mulla, who opted to sink with his ship, the INS Khukri, after it was hit during the 1971 Indo-Pak war. He was awarded the Mahavir Chakra (MVC).

In the last 18 months of training, cadets make presentations about countries and are graded for the same. Complex topics such as navigation in the disputed South China Sea are introduced. “Besides having its own faculty, a memorandum of understanding with Indian Institute of Technology at Delhi and Mumbai, respectively, adds to the edge,” says Principal Rear Admiral Amit Vikram. 

The Navy provides top-end sports shoes to the cadets besides the training kit. It is looking to provide air-conditioning in existing living spaces. 

The role of parents

On day one, when a cadet joins, the Navy calls in the parents and shows videos of its operations — warships at sea, helicopters, the fighter aircraft carrying carriers. The parents are advised by the Academy staff: “Training will be tough. Be sufficiently impressed by the effort to keep him going.” Cadets are from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. The present strength of 1,120 cadets has 58% coming from tier-III cities (classified as cities with population of less than a million). Northern states from more than half the strength. Some of them belong to: UP (180), Rajasthan (52), Punjab (51), Haryana (109), HP (47), Delhi (57), J&K (25), Uttarakhand (75) and Chandigarh (8).