Overseas deployment of INS Viraat & Eastern fleet ships to South East Asia
The Indian naval aircraft carrier INS Viraat,
accompanied by four other Indian naval ships namely
INS Rajput & Ranjit (guided missile destroyers), INS
Shakti (replenishment tanker) and INS Khukri
(indigenously built missile corvette) are scheduled to
be deployed overseas to countries in South East Asia
in Jul/Aug 05. During the course of the deployment the
ships are scheduled to visit Singapore 19-22 Jul,
Port Kelang (Malaysia) 23-27 Jul and Jakarta
(Indonesia) 28 Jul to 01 Aug
The visits to Malaysia and Indonesia will coincide
with the visit of Admiral Arun Prakash, PVSM, AVSM,
VrC, VSM, ADC, Chief of the Naval Staff to these
countries.
The Indian Navy lays great stress on enhancing
bilateral ties and improving mutual understanding &
interoperability with its maritime neighbours through
professional & operational interaction. Reciprocal
ship visits build bridges of friendship and meet the
objective of spreading the message of peace and
goodwill.
The carrier group is under the command of R Adm
Sanjeev Bhasin, the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern
Fleet of the Indian Navy and the aircraft carrier is
commanded by Capt SPS Cheema. INS Viraat. The flagship
of the Indian fleet carries the Sea Harrier aircraft,
Seaking helicopters, indigenously built Advanced Light
Helicopters & the Chetak helicopters. The ship with a
strength of almost 1600 people onboard, including the
air wing, is truly a microcosm of India, with
personnel from all parts of the country, reflecting
the rich and diverse cultural heritage of the country.
India has over the years achieved tremendous
indigenous capability in production of defence
equipment and Indian firms have kept pace with the
rapid technological advancements in the field of
military hardware and systems. The visits will provide
an opportunity to showcase this capability with
leading defence firms displaying their products
onboard Viraat during the ships' visits.
Public performances of the Indian Navy symphonic
orchestra are being scheduled during the ships' visits
to each country. The band has regaled audiences all
over the country and at many places abroad with its
performances. The musicians of the navy have also
performed in ensemble with reputed bands at
international events and while on goodwill visits
abroad like the bicentenary celebrations of the Statue
of Liberty and the President's Fleet Review in USA,
the Australian Bicentennial, the International Fleet
Review in Mumbai and the International Fleet Review at
Tokyo.
Singapore. The visit of the Indian Aircraft Carrier
Group is a reflection of the growing defence
co-operation between India and Singapore. The navies
of the two countries are at the forefront of this
co-operation, which started in 1994, with the RSN
sending ships to our waters to conduct anti submarine
training exercises with the Indian Navy. Over the
years, the scope and complexity of these exercises
have grown and these exercises had been the main plank
of the bilateral defence relationship until the two
countries signed the historic Defence Co-operation
Agreement (DCA) in Oct 03. Consequent to the signing
of the DCA, there has been significant enhancement in
the bilateral defence relationship, which has also
transcended to the Armies and Air Force of the two
countries. In ships have also been making port calls
at Singapore regularly and the RSN have always played
excellent hosts to the various naval ship visits that
the Indian Navy has had to Singapore. An important
landmark in our naval relationship was the conduct of
the first bilateral naval exercise in the Singapore
waters in March this year. This was preceded by the
Singapore Air Force and Army also conducting their
first ever bilateral exercise with their Indian
counterparts in Oct 04 and Feb-Apr this year
respectively.
Malaysia. The Indo-Malaysian defence cooperation had
received a major fillip with the constitution of the
Joint Working Group on defence cooperation in February
1993. The operational interaction between the two
navies has been in terms of training interactions,
visits by high level delegations and regular visits by
warships to each other's ports. Royal Malaysian Naval
Ships KD Lekir and KD Kasturi visited
Mumbai from 08 to 12 Sep 04. A high-level delegation
led by the Chief of Royal Malaysian Navy also visited
India in Sep 04. During 2003-04, six Malaysian
officers underwent training in India and three IN
personnel received training in Malaysia. Both the
navies also interact regularly under the aegis of the
Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS). In addition,
IN ships have regularly participated in the Lima
series of exhibitions/ conference hosted biennially at
Langkawi by the Malaysian defence ministry. Two ships
are scheduled to attend Lima 05 in December this year.
Indonesia. To ensure peace and stability in the
region and prevent illegal activities such as
smuggling, piracy, gunrunning, armed robbery, drugs
trafficking and poaching etc, the Indian Navy conducts
coordinated patrols with the Indonesian Navy in the
six-degree channel separating both the countries. The
first Indi-Indo-corpat was conducted in
Sep 02 and since then four coordinated patrols have
been successfully executed. The next patrol is
scheduled to be held in Sep 05.
The Indian Navy undertook extensive relief operations
after the Tsunami in Dec 04 and responded quickly to
the humanitarian needs of the neighbouring countries
while attending to its own disaster relief tasks. IN
ships Khukri and Nirupak (hospital ship) were deployed
at Meulaboh, Indonesia from 04 Jan to 17 Jan 05. The
ships handed over 40 tons of relief supplies to the
authorities at Meulaboh and also operated a medical
camp that provided first aid treatment to over 1800
survivors. In addition, a blood transfusion unit was
set up at the local hospital and some major surgeries
were performed onboard Nirupak.
VG/AK
(Release ID :10190)