Indian warships pay friendly visit to Vladivostok

Five Indian warships arrived in Russia's Pacific Fleet (PF) main naval base Vladivostok on Monday to pay a friendly visit; guests were met with martial music and bread-and-salt hospitality.

Indian and Russian national anthems were played on the pier at the Golden Horn Bay where entered the Indian task unit. It consists of of three destroyers INSDelhi, INS Ranvir, and INS Ranvijay, corvette INSKirch, and tanker INS Jyoti. Girls dressed in Russian national costumes handed over bread and salt to Indian officers; that is a symbol of Russian hospitality. 

The visit of Indian task unit under the flag of Rear Admiral Bish, Eastern Naval Command will last till Apr 22, reports RIA Novosti referring to PF Commander press-secretary Capt 1 rank Roman Martov. PF large ASW ship Admiral Tributs plays a role of the host ship. 

"Indian military delegation plans to pay visits to Pacific Fleet command and Mayor of Vladivostok. Indian guests are going to attend memorable sites of the city and the fleet. Indian Navy's band gave a big concert Monday evening in Naval Officers' Club", specified the interviewee. 

According to him, during the visit Pacific mariners will play a friendly soccer game with their Indian colleagues. The visit program also includes some informal meetings between naval servicemen of the two countries. Locals and guests of Vladivostok will be allowed to board Indian warships. 

"Current visit to Vladivostok is the second one for Indian sailors. First time they did it in 2007 during theINDRA-2007 joint naval exercise. In their turn, PF warships called at Indian ports several times in 90's, and then in 2001, 2003, and 2005", reminded Martov.

India, S Africa to hold joint Naval exercise

SANYA (PTI): India and South Africa on Thursday decided to hold joint Naval exercises and fixed a new trade target of USD 15 billion to be achieved by next year as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Jacob Zuma met here and discussed ways to boost overall ties.

During the 45-minute meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit, Zuma also informed Singh about his government's intention to invite President Pratibha Patil and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to his country.

The two leaders discussed a number of issues including bilateral defence and economic ties, UN reforms and developments in Libya and Ivory Coast, Secretary (Economic Relations) in the External Affairs Ministry Manbir Singh told reporters here.

See detail

Navy personnel begin training on Admiral Gorshkov

NEW DELHI (PTI): With the Navy set to induct aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov by next year, the first batch of Navy personnel have begun training on the refurbished vessel in St. Petersburg, Russia.

"The first group of 152 sailors and officers have started their training on-board INS Vikramaditya in Russia.

The training comprises four months of theory and almost a similar period of practical exercises on the ship," naval spokesperson told PTI here Thursday.

The group comprises sailors and officers from technical branches of the Navy who will train on the Gorshkov christened as INS Vikramaditya. The ship will have a total crew of 1400 people.

"The training is being conducted by Russian trainers and instructors. More such batches from different branches of naval operations will undergo similar period of training in the coming months," the officer said.

He said the training would be over "well in time" to ensure scheduled induction of the carrier in the Navy by 2012.

The Navy has already inducted the MiG-29K carrier borne fighter aircraft at its airbase in Goa and has plans to induct 45 of them.

It is also in the process of creating a Shore-Based Test Facility (SBTF) there on which the pilots will take off and land to simulate flying operations at sea.

The deal to purchase the 45,000 tonne Kiev class carrier was signed between India and Russia in 2004 at USD 974 million along with 16 MiG-29K naval fighters for USD 526 million.

However, the original delivery schedule of December 2008 went for a toss after the shipyard made a huge claim of an additional USD 1.5 billion for the refit project and went slow on the work in 2007 and hiked it again to USD 2.7 billion in 2009.

Last year, the two sides resolved the issue after long negotiations and settled on a final price of USD 2.3 billion for the warship.

Indian Navy boosts Eastern Naval command, appoints Vice Admiral

NEW DELHI (BNS): The Indian Navy has upgraded the post of the Chief of Staff (CoS) at its Eastern Naval Command (ENC) by appointing a three-star officer at the command for the first time. 

Rear Admiral S Lanba is set to take over as the first three-star Chief of Staff of the Vishakhapatanam-based ENC on May 1 after his elevation to the rank of Vice Admiral. 

The move comes in the wake of increased Chinese presence at the Bay of Bengal. 

“The upgradation of the post signifies the importance attached to the Eastern frontiers as the Command's area of responsibility has also expanded in comparison to the earlier times," Navy officials said here.

Earlier, the officials said, the focus was on the western front only as Pakistan was the only perceived enemy but after the adoption of the Look East policy, focus was laid on upgrading the capabilities in the Eastern sector as well.

The Indian Navy has deployed its latest warships, aircrafts at the eastern coast.

The Navy has deployed its amphibious warship INS Jalashwa, Shivalik Class frigates and the P-8I long range maritime surveillance aircraft on the eastern front.

It also plans to deploy one of its two future aircraft carriers on the East Coast.

The East Coast faces six littoral states including Bangladesh, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka. In the recent past, there have been reports that China has been developing facilities in Myanmar for military uses.