Indigenisation by Indian Navy

The Indian Navy’s foray into indigenisation began over five decades ago with the design and construction of warships in the country. Today, forty eight of its state-of-the-art ships and submarines are under construction in Indian shipyards, both public and private, a clear reflection of the Indian Navy’s enduring support to India’s indigenous warship building endeavour.

In pursuance of the Government of India’s vision of ‘Make in India,’ the Indian Navy has embarked upon an initiative to evolve a guideline document, the “Indian Naval Indigenisation Plan (INIP) 2015-2030”, to enunciate the need for developing various advanced systems for its platforms. This document supersedes the Indigenisation Plan published in 2008 for the period 2008-2022.

It attempts to formulate the requirements of Indian Navy and lists out the equipment which can be taken up for indigenisation in the coming years. It takes into account the Maritime Perspective Plan, which defines the goal for equipment and vessels with the Navy; the Maritime Infrastructure Perspective Plan, that focuses on building infrastructure along with the plans for cooperation with other countries; the Maritime Cooperation Roadmap Perspective Plan; and a Science and Technology roadmap that the navy has prepared with the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

The indigenisation requirements of the navy have been covered under categories of 'float', 'move', and 'fight', under sub-categories of marine engineering, electrical and electronic, weapons, armament and sensors, submarine systems, aircraft handling systems, diving and special operations and aviation equipment.

Of the three components of shipbuilding, the navy is 90 percent indigenised in the float category, 60 percent in the move category and only 30 percent in the fight category, that includes weapons and sensors.

The plan now aims at making 'arrestor wires', which assist in stopping aircraft while landing on ships, aircraft lifts, long-life paints for underwater hull, flight deck and radar absorption, composite foldable aircraft hangar door, bow sonar dome and glass for windows on ships' bridge among other things.

The plans for the move category include gas turbines, main propulsion diesel engines, and air independent propulsion, while the fight category plans include a long list of equipment ranging from surface-to-air missiles to fire control systems and super rapid gun mounts. The list for naval aviation includes naval utility helicopters, naval multi-role helicopters and a number of other equipment.