- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN national security advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval is likely to commission the country’s first satellite and ballistic-missile tracking ship INS Dhruv from the coastal city of Visakhapatnam in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on September 10.
In an exclusive report, Indian daily Hindustan Times said chief of naval staff Admiral Karambir Singh and National Technical Research Tribunal (NTRO) chairman Anil Dasmana will be present at the launching ceremony of the ship. Senior officials of the Defence Research and Development Corporation (DRDO) and the Indian Navy will also be present.
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The ship, which is capable of gathering electronic intelligence and will be used to track missiles and satellites to help the country’s strategic weapons and anti-ballistic missiles, was built by India’s Hindustan Shipyard Limited in collaboration with the DRDO and NTRO. The vessel also has the capability to map ocean beds for research and detection of enemy submarines.
The nuclear-missile tracking ship will be run under the navy personnel with the Strategic Forces Command. Only France, the US, the UK, Russia and China currently operate such ships.
The ship, which weighs 10,000 tonnes, is part of a classified project and will be at the centre of India’s future anti-ballistic missile capacity since it will act as an early warning system for enemy missiles headed towards the country’s cities and military establishments, the report added.
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INS Dhruv will be significant for maritime domain awareness in the Indo-Pacific region and is being commissioned at the time when underwater armed and surveillance drones have come up as new means of intelligence and warfare.
With two nuclear-powered neighbours with whom India has land disputes, INS Dhruv will add strength to India’s maritime security architecture. It will enhance the capability to assess the adversaries’ true missile capacity when they test ballistic missiles.
India of late has stressed on the issue of maritime security and it was evident when prime minister Narendra Modi proposed five basic principles for enhancing maritime security during an open debate at the United Nations Security Council, where the country served as the president in the month of August.
