Rajnath Singh reviews naval combat capabilities, takes sortie in submarine

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 27

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday took a sortie on submarine INS Khanderi to get a first-hand insight into the combat capabilities and offensive strength of the vessel. He was shown full spectrum of capabilities of underwater operations of the stealth submarine for over four hours.

“Today, the Indian Navy is counted among the frontline navies of the world and big maritime forces are ready for cooperation with India. The preparations being made by our Navy is not against anyone, but it is aimed at peace and prosperity of the Indian Ocean Region. These are not a provocation to any aggression,” said Rajnath.

The advanced sensor suite that detects movement, the combat system and weapon capability were shown to the minister. The sortie was accompanied by the deployment of ships of the Western Fleet, a P-8I maritime surveillance plane and Sea King helicopter.

With this, the Defence Minister has witnessed first-hand the three-dimensional combat capability of Indian Navy. He embarked on the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya in September 2019 and conducted a sortie on the P-8I maritime plane earlier this month.

Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and other senior officers of the Navy and the Ministry of Defence were also present.

INS Khanderi

• Commissioned in September 2019
• India’s second Scorpene-class attack submarine
• Diesel-electric sub can attack with torpedoes, tube-launched anti-ship missiles

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