Sunil Lanba News

The heads of the U.S. and Indian navies met at the Pentagon this week to discuss ways to ways to integrate and improve interoperability. On March 21, U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson hosted Indian Navy chief Adm. Sunil Lanba at the Pentagon, where the two met with Secretary of Navy Richard V. Spencer to discuss ways to improve interoperability to include additional naval exercises and staff talks. “The relationship between the U.S. Navy and the Indian Navy has never been stronger,” said Richardson.

The Indian Navy’s third state-of-the-art Scorpene class submarine, INS Karanj, was launched by Reena Lanba, wife of Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba, , at the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL) in Mumbai. This historic event reaffirms the giant strides taken by MDL in the ongoing ‘Make In India’ programme, which is being actively implemented by the Department of Defence Production (MoD). The new submarine is named after the earlier Kalvari class INS Karanj, which was decommissioned in 2003. The submarine was then towed to Mumbai Port Trust, for separation from the pontoon. Karanj will now undergo rigorous trials and tests, both in harbour and at sea before it is commissioned into the Navy.

Admiral Nizamuddin Ahmed, Chief of Naval Staff of the Bangladesh Navy is on an official visit to India from 28 to 30 August 2017. The visit is aimed at consolidating bilateral naval relations between India and Bangladesh and to explore new avenues for Naval Cooperation. The Chief of Naval Staff, Bangladesh Navy will hold bilateral discussions with Admiral Sunil Lanba, Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee and Chief of the Naval Staff and other senior officials of the Indian Navy on 28 August 2017. The Admiral is also scheduled to meet Chief of the Air Staff, and will also call on the Hon’ble Raksha Mantri, NSA and Defence Secretary as part of his official meetings in New Delhi.

India's Eastern Naval Command Golden Jubilee Seminar with the theme “National Maritime Power - Concepts, Constituents and Catalysts”, concluded on 23 August 2017. The two-day seminar is jointly hosted by ENC in partnership with the National Maritime Foundation (NMF) was inaugurated at Samudrika Auditorium Visakhapatnam on 22 August 2017 by Admiral Sunil Lanba, PVSM, AVSM, ADC  Chief of the Naval Staff. In the Inaugural session, the welcome address was delivered by Vice Admiral HCS Bisht, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command and Admiral RK Dhowan (Retd), former Navy Chief delivered the inaugural address. The Chief Guest for the event, Admiral Sunil Lanba, Chief of the Naval Staff, delivered the keynote address.

Indian Naval Ships Shivalik, Sahyadri, Jyoti and Kamorta of the Eastern Fleet manouvering in the Andaman Sea. The task force is on a routine deployment to Malacca Strait, the Java Sea, Flores Sea, the Arafura Sea and Southern Indian Ocean under the command of Rear Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta, YSM, VSM, the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet. During the course of the deployment, as part of the ‘Act East Policy’, the ships would make port calls at Singapore, Kuantan (Malaysia), Jakarta and Surabaya (Indonesia), Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea) and Fremantle (Australia). INS Sahyadri and INS Kamorta would participate in the International Maritime Review at Singapore as part of RSN’s (Republic of Singapore Navy) 50th anniversary celebrations for which Admiral Sunil Lanba…

Admiral Sunil Lanba, PVSM, AVSM, ADC, Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) and Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), Indian Navy is on a goodwill visit to Malaysia from 11 to 15 April 2017. The visit is intended to consolidate and enhance bilateral maritime relations between India and Malaysia and is expected to provide a major boost to defence relations between India and Malaysia. During his visit, the Admiral will hold discussions with the Deputy Minister of Defence, Chief of Royal Malaysian Defence Forces along with the Chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Force of Malaysia. The Indian and the Royal Malaysian Navies cooperate with each other in terms of training, operational interactions as well as interacting at various multilateral forums like Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, MILAN and ADMM Plus.

Admiral Vladimir Korolev, Commander-in-Chief, Russian Federation Navy along with a four member Russian Navy delegation is on an official visit to India from 15 to 18 March 2017. The visit aims to consolidate bilateral naval relations between India and Russia, as also to explore new avenues for naval cooperation. During his visit, the Commander-in-Chief of Russian Navy held bilateral discussions with Admiral Sunil Lanba, PVSM, AVSM, ADC, Chief of the Naval Staff and other senior officials of the Indian Navy. The Admiral is also scheduled to meet the Hon’ble Minister of Defence, the Chief of the Air Staff, the Chief of the Army Staff and the Defence Secretary as part of his official engagements in New Delhi.

INS Viraat, the world’s oldest aircraft carrier and the flag ship of the Indian Navy, was decommissioned on Monday after serving for 30 years in the Indian Navy. INS Viraat holds the world record as mentioned in the Guinness Book of records for being the longest serving warship of the world. INS Viraat, the second Centaur-Class aircraft carrier in service which has spent 30 years in the Indian Navy and 27 years in the Royal Navy, was decommissioned on the day, in a solemn yet grand ceremony at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai. The decommissioning ceremony was attended by more than 1300 personnel who have served on board INS Viraat. Admiral Sir Philip Jones…

A Myanmar Navy (MN) Delegation comprising three officers: Lt Cdr ThureinTun, Lt Cdr Kyaw Zeya Oo and Lt Ye WintTun, has completed a four-day official visit to Southern Naval Command (SNC) Kochi on 02 March 2017. The visit was primarily aimed at familiarizing the MN officers on Indian Naval Meteorology and Oceanography (METOC) operational / training facilities and exploring avenues for defence co-operation in the field. Towards fostering closer and warmer relations with Myanmar, the Indian Navy has always tried to strengthen defence cooperation with the Myanmar Navy by providing assistance, especially in the fields of training, weapon / equipment sales and hydrographic assistance.

Admiral Sunil Lanba, Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) embarked ships of the Indian Fleet (both Western & Eastern) over the last two days to review the ongoing Annual Theatre Level Readiness and Operational Exercise (TROPEX) 2017 which is presently underway since 24 January 2017. The CNS was accompanied by General Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Army Staff and Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command. The CNS witnessed a host of exercises viz. Gunnery shoots, Surface to Air missile engagements, Brahmos firing and operations of the combined Fleet in a complex multi threat environment including sub surface and air threats.

A parade marked the culmination of 21 weeks of basic training and a total of 1640 trainees passed out successfully from the portals of INS Chilka on 13 Jan 17. These trainees will now proceed for cadre specific professional training, both, at sea and professional training schools of the Indian Navy. The parade was reviewed by Admiral Sunil Lanba, PVSM, VSM, ADC, the Chief of the Naval Staff. The Admiral in his address to the passing out trainees emphasized that “it is incumbent upon the trainees to serve the navy with honour, dignity and commitment. He reiterated that no effort would be too small and no sacrifice too great in serving our glorious nation and splendid service”. Vice Admiral AR Karve, AVSM, FOC-in-C south was the conducting officer for the parade.

India's second Kalvari class Scorpene submarine was launched into water - or 'undocked' - by the Union minister of state for defence Dr Subhash Bhamre at the Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL). The submarine will undergo rigorous tests and trials on the surface and underwater before it is commissioned into the Indian Navy as "INS Khanderi" at the end of the year in December. Admiral Sunil Lanba, Chief of the Naval Staff and a host of other dignitaries witnessed the launch. The submarine is named after a 17th century Maratha island fort. The stealth features of INS Khanderi are reportedly unmatched by many submarines. The attack can be launched with torpedoes, as well as with tube-launched anti-ship missiles, while underwater or on surface.

A Chinese nuclear-powered submarine was reportedly docked at a port in Pakistan, raising concerns across the border in India that it could have been monitoring the movement of its warships more closely than ever, reported NDTV. Showing an image on Google Earth of Chinese nuclear attack submarine docked in the harbour in Karachi in May last year,  the report proved that Beijing might be scrutinizing Indian warships’ movements far more closely than earlier. The image was of Chinese navy type 091 "Han" class fast-attack submarine, the first class of nuclear-powered submarines deployed by China. The report said the Indian Navy has pointed out that "advance military assets" like submarines aren't "appropriate" for taking on Somali pirates who terrorise the seas in "small skiffs".

To enhance bilateral maritime relations, Indian Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba, has embarked on a five-day visit to Sri Lanka. According to PTI report, during  Sunil Lanba's  visit, he will hold bilateral discussions with President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and senior dignitaries including the Chief of Defence Staff and the three Service Chiefs. The Admiral will also attend the 'Galle Dialogue' which is being held at Colombo. The Galle Dialogue is an annual conference hosted by Sri Lanka on the issues of Maritime Security and Cooperation between international navies. Representatives from 39 countries and 13 international organisations are likely to participate in the event.

India’s first indigenously-made nuclear submarine, the INS Arihant has been commissioned into service. The 6,000-ton, 110-metre-long INS Arihant (the Sanskrit name meaning ‘Slayer of Enemies’) is powered by a 83 MW pressurised light water nuclear reactor. INS Arihant  can deliver atomic weapons from land, sea and air. The vessel was formally commissioned by Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba in August. To maintain secrecy, it is not being referred to as INS Arihant, sources added. INS which stands for ‘Indian Naval Ship’ is affixed to a ship only after it is inducted into service. With this India joins the select group of countries which have a nuclear triad, i.e. capable of delivering nuclear weapons by aircraft, ballistic missiles and submarine launched missiles.