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Even as the first phase of construction of Karwar naval base in Karnataka is over after 25 years, India now faces greater threat from Pakistan in the western seaboard. As compared to just one major naval base at Mumbai, Pakistan has five bases along its 2,500 km coastline. Moreover, it is strengthening its naval might at a rapid pace by inducting submarines, long range maritime aircraft and warships.
Defence Minister AK Antony on Saturday last commissioned a civilian township at Karwar marking the completion of all construction activities under Phase I of the naval base there codenamed Project Seabird. The crucial Phase-II will now commence with the construction of providing berths for warships, ammunition depots and other infrastructure required for a naval base.
Compared with the pace of development of naval war fighting infrastructure, Pakistan has stolen a march over India. It has built five major operational bases for its ships at Gwadar, Ormara, Pasni and Jiwani besides upgrading Karachi port.
All these bases are capable of sustaining naval operations over a sustained period of time and can cause serious problem for India in case of hostilities, sources said on Sunday.
Compared to Pakistan’s preparations, India, at present, has only one major naval base at Mumbai while it will take more than five to eight years before Karwar base becomes operational. Other bases like Cochin are not in the same league as Gwadar or for that matter Mumbai and efforts are now on to hasten up the process of building infrastructure including ports and ship building capabilities, they said.
Admitting the fact that China is actively involved in developing ports like Gwadar, they said Pakistan is rapidly enhancing its naval prowess through acquisition of state of the art platforms.
Besides upgrading three French built submarines in its armada, Pakistan will shortly get six Chinese submarines, eight warships and five P3C Orion long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft from the US. Coupled with these acquisitions, Pakistan next year will get 50 Chinese built fighter jets in one go thereby increasing its air power and providing its navy with the reach to attack enemy warships in deep waters.
Given this backdrop, planning for the second phase of the Karwar project involving augmentation of facilities at the naval base to cater for basing of additional ships and submarines is now underway and work is likely to commence once the Cabinet approves the expansion.
Once completed, the Karwar base will be able to cater to more than 12 warships and submarines. The foundation stone of the Karwar base was laid by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in October 1986 and the phase one of the projects was formally commissioned by Antony last week.
As regards the submarine fleet of the Indian Navy, most of the 20-strong vessels were in various stages of upgrade and their operational lifecycle would be over by the end of this decade. The six Scorpene submarines, now under construction at the Mazagon Shipyard, Mumbai, will be ready only in the next five to six years and the Navy urgently needs to augment its ageing submarine fleet.
The Russian built nuclear powered Akula submarine was likely to be inducted into the Navy by the end of this year. It will be in service for ten years and the Navy has taken the submarine on lease. As regards construction of ships within the country, more than 30 ships including the first indigenous aircraft carrier were under various stages of construction.
Defence Minister AK Antony on Saturday last commissioned a civilian township at Karwar marking the completion of all construction activities under Phase I of the naval base there codenamed Project Seabird. The crucial Phase-II will now commence with the construction of providing berths for warships, ammunition depots and other infrastructure required for a naval base.
Compared with the pace of development of naval war fighting infrastructure, Pakistan has stolen a march over India. It has built five major operational bases for its ships at Gwadar, Ormara, Pasni and Jiwani besides upgrading Karachi port.
All these bases are capable of sustaining naval operations over a sustained period of time and can cause serious problem for India in case of hostilities, sources said on Sunday.
Compared to Pakistan’s preparations, India, at present, has only one major naval base at Mumbai while it will take more than five to eight years before Karwar base becomes operational. Other bases like Cochin are not in the same league as Gwadar or for that matter Mumbai and efforts are now on to hasten up the process of building infrastructure including ports and ship building capabilities, they said.
Admitting the fact that China is actively involved in developing ports like Gwadar, they said Pakistan is rapidly enhancing its naval prowess through acquisition of state of the art platforms.
Besides upgrading three French built submarines in its armada, Pakistan will shortly get six Chinese submarines, eight warships and five P3C Orion long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft from the US. Coupled with these acquisitions, Pakistan next year will get 50 Chinese built fighter jets in one go thereby increasing its air power and providing its navy with the reach to attack enemy warships in deep waters.
Given this backdrop, planning for the second phase of the Karwar project involving augmentation of facilities at the naval base to cater for basing of additional ships and submarines is now underway and work is likely to commence once the Cabinet approves the expansion.
Once completed, the Karwar base will be able to cater to more than 12 warships and submarines. The foundation stone of the Karwar base was laid by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in October 1986 and the phase one of the projects was formally commissioned by Antony last week.
As regards the submarine fleet of the Indian Navy, most of the 20-strong vessels were in various stages of upgrade and their operational lifecycle would be over by the end of this decade. The six Scorpene submarines, now under construction at the Mazagon Shipyard, Mumbai, will be ready only in the next five to six years and the Navy urgently needs to augment its ageing submarine fleet.
The Russian built nuclear powered Akula submarine was likely to be inducted into the Navy by the end of this year. It will be in service for ten years and the Navy has taken the submarine on lease. As regards construction of ships within the country, more than 30 ships including the first indigenous aircraft carrier were under various stages of construction.
