We aim to be a 200-ship navy in a decade

Admiral Sunil Lanba is a man of few words on personal matters. Asked why he spells his name with an ‘N’, instead of ‘M’ like other Lambas, the admiral retorted: “You have to ask my forefathers.” But the navy chief, who is currently the chairman of the chiefs of staff committee, is eloquent on professional matters. Excerpts from an interview granted on the eve of the Navy Day:

It has been a year and half since you came to head the Navy. What have been your achievements?

The Navy itself is like a ship whose performance is dependent on team work. It would be inappropriate to attribute the progress made to any one individual.... As a proud member of this fine team, I am satisfied with where we stand today, but I am also cognisant of the fact that there’s much more to be done.

The achievements of the Navy over the last year and a half, on the operational front as well as capability accretion, are very credible. There has been a steady improvement in maintenance standards, as also human resource management practices. An ocean free of maritime threats, secure coastline, unimpeded movement of vessels through piracy-prone areas and our outreach to provide humanitarian relief far from our shores have been demonstrative of our capabilities and resolve....

Can you tell us about your acquisition plans.

We aim to be a 200-ship navy in the coming decade. The surface arm will get a boost with the induction of next-generation frigates, destroyers, corvettes and missile vessels. We will expand our capabilities in niche areas such as aircraft-carriers and nuclear submarines. Revitalisation of the aviation arm is being accorded due attention....

Till a decade and half ago, China didn’t even have a carrier, whereas we have been operating carriers for four decades. Pakistan still doesn’t have one. We had a superior submarine arm, till those accidents happened. Today, are we losing that maritime edge?

Let me assure you, our modernisation and accretion plans are on track in all three disciplines of naval warfare—surface, subsurface and air. In order to tide over temporary delays in new submarine programmes, we are modernising our older submarines, through medium refit-cum-life certification programmes.... Lease of a nuclear-powered attack submarine [from Russia] has given further boost to our subsurface fleet. Deliveries of submarines under Project-75 have commenced. Project-75 (I), which is being pursued under the strategic partnership model, holds a lot of promise not only in terms of technology but also our domestic capabilities.

The indigenous carrier programme is progressing well for delivery in three years. As on date, we have more than 30 ships under construction in various Indian shipyards. We are confident of timely deliveries. Acquisition process has also been initiated to induct more capable and versatile aviation assets including UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles]....

Your decision to forego the Tejas naval version was a surprise to the champions of indigenisation.

We have always been supporting indigenisation, and have always supported the LCA [Light Combat Aircraft] programme.... The Navy not only provided financial support to this prestigious programme, but also contributed manpower and other resources. However, there have been some delays in respect of the carrier compatibility tests of these aircraft. Therefore, we had to explore an alternate option to meet the timelines for operationalisation of IAC-1 [Indian Aircraft Carrier]. It was not an easy decision; it was taken after lot of deliberations.

Look-East has been turned into Act-East in our foreign policy doctrine. But now, there is much talk about Indo-Pacific. How do you view this new concept?

Indo-Pacific is a term being increasingly used in international discourse to refer to a very wide but interconnected maritime area, stretching from the east coast of Africa and the Persian Gulf to the central Pacific. This region has emerged as the locus of world economics and politics in the 21st century. India, Japan, China, Australia and a number of ASEAN countries are major economic and military powers of the world. Together, they account for more than 50 per cent of global GDP. These growth engines are fed from the sources of energy in West Asia and Africa....

Neither the Indian Ocean littorals nor those in the Western Pacific can be spoken about in isolation. This is why the expanded nomenclature of ‘Indo-Pacific’ is gaining recognition.... As the primary manifestation of maritime military power of a responsible nation at the heart of Indo-Pacific region, the Indian Navy is fully seized of its responsibilities towards ensuring good order and security in the region.... Assistance to smaller countries for developing their capabilities and promoting a wider dialogue for evolving a universally acceptable framework for maritime cooperation are some of the efforts....

There is a lot of talk about jointness of operations, about integration, about theatre commands and even a chief of defence staff. But, we haven’t integrated our services.Your views?

There is consensus amongst the services on the requirement of reforms in our higher defence organisation. The aim is to enhance our joint war-fighting capabilities, establish an efficient and result-oriented military-political interface and optimise the overall defence expenditure. These outcomes are more important than any proposed nomenclature for the future organisations. Creation of theatre commands need not necessarily be seen as a beginning, but as a culmination of several sequential structural, organisational, operational and administrative reforms in the three services.

Having said that, I think it would be incorrect to say that jointness is lacking within the present set-up. The extent and level of jointness between the services has substantially increased after HQIDS [Integrated Defence Staff HQ] and HQANC [Andaman & Nicobar Command HQ] came into being in 2001, followed by HQSFC [Strategic Forces Command HQ] in 2003. Efforts are under way to synergise training infrastructure between the three services and enhance the extent of cross-staffing in each other’s headquarters and training institutions. A tri-service defence space agency and a tri-service special operations division are also on the anvil....

How do you plan to address the issue of gender parity?

The Navy has been committed to the cause of gender parity. Women officers are currently being inducted into eight branches and cadres—education, law, logistics, air traffic control, naval constructor, observers, pilots and armament inspectorate. The women pilots and observers on our reconnaissance aircraft are actually performing combat roles. In all these cadres, there is complete gender parity in terms of induction, training, career progression as well as consideration for grant of permanent commission.