Halt, the Defence Minister is calling

Halt, the Defence Minister is calling
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, DEC 3: When the call came, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sushil Kumar was giving out his grandiose plans of wanting three aircraft carriers, becoming a blue water navy and equipping ships and submarines with cruise missiles. It was the Defence Minister and the message was: Stop.

Midway through the press briefing at naval officers mess, an aide came and hurriedly whispered something in the ear of Admiral Kumar. He suddenly stood up, apologised and rushed out of the room to take an important telephone call.

The CNS at this point was talking about cruise missiles on Talwar class frigate. He returned moments later again apologised and resumed the conference. And added: ``That was the Raksha Mantri (George Fernandes) on the line. He said that Parliament is in session and do not say anything sensational. Gentlemen, please do not write anything sensational, otherwise the Navy will be turned upside down.'' He also said that this was the time to write to add not just to the glory of the Navy but to theglory of the country.

The naval chief then spoke of modernisation and indigenisation that was required to make the Navy a blue water navy. The kilo class submarines will be equipped with Klub missiles having a range of 300 kilometers, he said. Giving his vision of the Navy entering the new millennium, he said that with the addition of two more aircraft carriers, the Navy would be able to achieve the status of a blue water navy, even if it does not have a nuclear submarine.

``The Talwar class destroyers, the Sindhushastra submarines will provide the assured and credible deterrent and provide versatile sea control. The true potential of the maritime power is yet to be exploited,'' he said. The 21st century is of sea power and dominance and we depend on sea for trade (97 of all trade in India is sea based) and oil which is vulnerable. Therefore we have to invest in security on sea, he added.

He stressed upon the need for having three aircraft carriers, one each for the Eastern and Western fleet and thethird for reserve. Admiral Kumar said given the vast expanse of India's coast it was essential for three aircraft carriers. ``The Viraat will last us till the year 2010-2012 once it comes back from its refit, by then we should have been able to build our own carrier and in another three years we should have Admiral Gorshkov after the retro-fitting from Russia,'' he hoped.

The CNS sidestepped a question on acquiring a nuclear submarine saying the decision had to be taken at a strategic level and not at a naval level.