Naval News – Indian Navy’s Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar publicly affirmed the Navy’s interest in placing a repeat order for the Vikrant type aircraft carrier. More MPAs are also on the horizon, with Boeing making efforts to revive the reportedly shelved plan to procure six additional P-8I long range MPAs even as DRDO develops medium range MPAs based on the Airbus C-295. 

Naval Technology – The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) will launch the final Shivalik-class frigate, the Mahendragiri, on 1 September, concluding all of the launches under Project 17A, a seven ship programme for the Indian Navy.

(Thanks to Alain)

Eurasia Review – Sino-Indian competition has been one of the defining features of the Bay of Bengal’s strategic resurgence in recent years, as India tries to retain its prominence as a resident power, in the face of China’s deepening footprint in the region. In a future riddled with energy uncertainty, the lure of the Bay is undeniable for Beijing, as not only is the maritime space home to a vast repository of hydrocarbons, but it is also traversed by important sea lanes of communication, that are used to ferry critical energy imports from the Middle East to the countries of East Asia.

(Thanks to Alain)

Asian Newsable – INS Vagir is on an extended-range deployment to Australia, marking a historic milestone as the first Indian Navy submarine to be deployed in the country. The Kalvari-class submarine is engaging in joint exercises with Royal Australian Navy’s units on the West Coast of Australia

(Thanks to Alain)

War Zone – The French carrier-based Rafale fighter appears to have emerged victorious in India, being selected ahead of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

Naval News – The Indian Navy has reacquired the capability to conduct multi-carrier operations. It demonstrated last week the coordinated deployment of more than 35 aircraft from two aircraft carriers: INS Vikramaditya and INS Vikrant, and their respective escorts. Meanwhile discussions for the procurement of a third aircraft carrier are ongoing.

Hindustan Times – Even though INS Vikrant is headed for “guarantee refit” at Cochin shipyard, INS Vikramaditya is fully operational and ready to chart Indo-Pacific.

Defense News – German submarine builder ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems has signed a pact with Indian shipyard Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. that would secure local manufacturing in the event the Indian Navy taps the German vendor for new boats.

First Post – Germany’s defence minister Boris Pistorius, who is in India on a four-day visit, said his country is in a ‘good place’ to bag the six-submarine deal worth Rs 43,000 crore. The deal is part of New Delhi’s P-75I project that envisages the construction of advanced underwater vessels.

(Thanks to Alain)

1945 – It’s pretty plain that India remains content to freeride on outside-supplied maritime security, much as the United States freerode on the Royal Navy for most of the nineteenth century.

US Naval War College Review – The dissonance between the positions of India’s Nehruvian strategic community and of the Indian strategic establishment, especially regarding the freedom-of-navigation operations the U.S. Navy long has conducted in India’s exclusive economic zone, is rooted in realpolitik considerations, especially China’s rise as a great power, and the difference between international law and politics.

War on the Rocks – Despite increased cooperation and regular statements from American and Indian naval leaders expressing a desire to work together more, the India-U.S. naval relationship remains one of considerable untapped potential.

Naval News – The Cochin Shipyard ceremonially handed over the first indigenous aircraft carrier “Vikrant” to the Indian Navy.

Naval News – The Indian Navy’s P-75I submarines will be larger and much more potent than the Kalvari Class now entering service. They will be the bedrock of India’s submarine fleet at a time when the strategic focus is leaning towards China as well as the traditional adversary, Pakistan. There are 4 contenders.

War Zone – India has joined the select group of countries to have designed and built their own aircraft carriers, with its first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier, or IAC, named INS Vikrant, having begun sea trials today. While the program has suffered delays and cost overruns, the milestone is still a significant one for the Indian Navy and its air arm and is the next step toward India fielding its planned multiple-carrier force.

USNI News – The U.S. Navy carried out a high-tempo exercise this week in the Indian Ocean involving the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group along with the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force. The drills come at the start of the 27th annual Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercise series with CARAT Sri Lanka on June 24, which will include USS Charleston (LCS-18) and the first official participation of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) destroyer JS Yugiri (DD-153).

Naval News – The Chinese Navy is rapidly expanding its aircraft carrier fleet, with two in service and at least one more under construction. And while still new to the game, their experience of operating carriers is growing all the time. Regional rival India has a much longer tradition of carrier aviation, but fewer and smaller carriers. The first indigenous aircraft carrier, Vikrant, could keep India competitive however.

War on the Rocks – India’s strategic community was in a frenzy last month after USS John Paul Jones carried out a freedom of navigation exercise near India’s Lakshadweep Islands. Indian observers were mystified by the timing of maneuver, coming as it did at a moment when U.S.-Indian relations are on a high. The disquiet in New Delhi was compounded by a U.S. 7th Fleet press release that said the operation was carried out in India’s exclusive economic zone “without requesting India’s prior consent” to assert “navigational rights and freedoms”—language that many Indian observers saw as needlessly provocative.

Naval News – 5 years after she was commissioned in 2016, the Indian Navy’s INS Arihant remains something of an enigma. Her existence is no secret, in fact it is a proud achievement of Indian industry. But photographs are very few. And nearly all those you will find on the internet are many years old. It is a very secretive submarine program.

Mumbai Mirror – The Indian Navy has been tasked with delivering oxygen to the country.

Naval News – The Indian Navy today commissioned INS Karanj, its third Scorpene-class submarine. Karanj follows INS Kalvari and INS Khanderi. Three more submarines of the class will join the Indian Navy fleet as part of P-75 program.

StrategyPage – India has completed the complex process of purchasing M90FR maritime gas turbine engines from Ukraine and delivery of these engines to a Russian shipyard that is building two of the four advanced P-17 “stealth” Talwar class frigates for India. 

UPI – India’s navy received its ninth P-8i surveillance aircraft on Wednesday. The plane is the first delivered under an option contract, signed in 2016, for four additional aircraft, the remaining three of which are expected to arrive in 2021.

USNI News – The U.S., Indian, Japanese and Australian navies on Tuesday kicked off the Malabar 2020 naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal, bringing the four nations together for the annual drill for the first time in over a decade.

War Zone – India says that it has successfully tested a new supersonic anti-submarine missile. This missile carries a lightweight torpedo as its warhead and releases it over the designated target area, after which that weapon operates as normal and uses its own guidance system to seek out the enemy submarine. Dubbed the Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo, or SMART, this could give Indian warships, and potentially shore-based units, a valuable additional stand-off tool in the face of growing submarine threats from adversaries, especially China.