India has finally made its naval strength felt across the globe. The navy has sent frontline warships to almost 40 nations in the last year. This is the first time ever, a record engagement across the world reflecting the foreign policy focus of the government has been pursued through the naval warships.
The Navy has also pulled off the almost impossible by deploying warships to nations as diverse as Iran and Israel - within ten days of each other - as well as Saudi Arabia and the UK, all within the past month. The Economic Times has spoken to several Navy officers who confirmed that this is the first time that over three dozen nations have been directly engaged, calling it a significant increase in interaction with friendly foreign nations.
"In the past 12 months, Indian warships have been deployed from the western Pacific in the east to the west coast of South Adriatic and have shown the flag in almost all major ports and interacted with friendly navies in the region," Navy chief Admiral RK Dhowan told ET.
The nations visited is diverse and reflects Indian interests across the world - from Vietnam, Japan, Singapore and Myanmar in the east to Egypt, Turkey, France and Spain in the west. Frontline warships like the indigenously made stealth frigate, INS Sahyadri, have even sailed as far as Hawaii within the past year.
"This unprecedented footprint in the Indian Ocean Region and beyond reflects the role the Navy plays in shaping the maritime environment in our area of interest," Admiral Dhowan told the ET.
Modi will be addressing top military commanders onboard aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya next month. He has already made it clear that his government's priority is on the maritime domain with most major modernisation projects cleared pertaining to the Navy, including an ambitious Rs 1 lakh crore plan to construct six nuclear powered attack submarines indigenously.