Six years down the line, ENC to turn more potent: Vice-Admiral Atul Kumar Jain

Visakhapatnam: From a fleet of over 132 ships, Indian Navy has a prospective expansion plan of increasing its fleet to 198 ships and submarines by 2027.

Sharing details, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command Vice-Admiral Atul Kumar Jain said in the process, a large number of ships will be decommissioned and inducted. In Visakhapatnam, there are about seven submarines and Indian Navy has 20 submarines, including INS Chakra and INS Arihant.

Six years down the line, the Vice Admiral said the Eastern Naval Command will be the potent command for the simple reason that the assets of the command are going to be extremely capable with new ships and helicopters adding to the fleet.

Terming the proposal of procuring MRH (multi-role helicopters) from the US as a game changer, the Vice-Admiral mentioned the choppers will aid in undertaking submarine warfare. "The capability of the fleets will be enhanced manifold as the surveillance gets efficient.

While Chetak has its own limitations and can only go up to 10 miles, the MRH with its own sensor can go up to 100 miles and would eventually benefit the Indian navy," he elaborated.

About women officers' recruitment on-board ships, the Vice-Admiral said that the efforts were on and the ships will be designed to suit women officers on-board, including accommodation and washrooms.

Initially, medical officers along with other women officers will be taken in. Based on the response, the strength would be increased further," he told The Hans India, adding that women officers are much more sincere.

On the slots available for the civil flights at the airport, Atul Kumar Jain asserted that the present slots for the civil flights were catering to the requirement. Keeping the unidirectional runway in view, it takes close to six minutes for a flight to land and give way for the second flight to take off.

To mitigate this issue, a parallel taxi track is soon going to take shape at the airport. With this, the airport will witness improved movements per day," he informed. The Vice-Admiral further stated that there were no takers for the morning slots between 6:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.

"But in the evenings, navy has certain restrictions and absence of parallel taxis is adding to the woes," he mentioned. The number of movements in the airport will be worked out once the new taxi track comes up.

Apart from this, Indian navy is also planning to come up with another parallel taxi. However, the Vice-Admiral added it is subject to availability of funds.