Following is the text of the
President, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam’s address at the Naval
Fleet Review at Visakhapatnam today
The
Ocean Power
“I am delighted to participate in
this Fleet Review of the Indian Navy which is being hosted by the Eastern Sea
Board for the first time. My greetings to all the Officers, Sailors, and
support staff of the Navy. May I greet the distinguished invitees and guests
who are participating in this function.
When I am with you, I am reminded of
the 1971 heroic action by the Eastern Naval Command. On the declaration of war
on December 3, 1971, INS Rajput while patrolling detected presence of a
submarine Coast off Vizag and she fired depth charges which grievously damaged
PNS Gazi. It was a "prize trophy" for the Indian Navy. I am happy
that the new INS Rajput has now become the first ship to have the most advanced
supersonic cruise missile, BrahMos. I congratulate all ranks of the Navy for
the heroic action and their foresight for modernization to maintain superiority
in all future operations.
I also congratulate the laudable role
played by the Navy by providing quick relief to the people affected by Tsunami
in India and the neighboring countries.
Ocean - a National Treasure
As you are aware, oceans are
extremely important for the social, political and economic development of a
nation. Oceans possess living and non-living resources. Poly-metallic nodules
in deep waters, placer deposits, heavy sands containing thorium, deposits of
phosphorites and calcite etc., are few examples of non-living resources.
Efforts are being made to locate hydrocarbon resources in deep waters. One of
the important resources in the East and West Coasts is Methane Hydrate
deposits, which are expected to be available at depth ranging from 400 – 700
meters below the sea-bed. Seismic studies have shown high probability of
existence of these deposits. At present there is a National Gas Hydrates
Programme, which is working as an integrated mission to locate the Methane
Hydrate deposits. It is a complex technological challenge as it involves high
pressure technology transportation. In addition, nearly 40% of the world
population lives in our region. The economic growth of this region depends on
the heavy transportation in the Indian Ocean particularly the Malacca strait.
Navy has an increasing role to provide necessary support for carrying out these
operations.
Islands - our wealth
There are habited and large number of
uninhabited islands of India in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. There is a
need to continuously update our island boundaries and their dynamically
changing contours. These islands can be characterized into three types: (1)
Islands of strategic importance (2) Islands of economic importance and (3)
Bio-diversity islands; and any combination of the above three. At this point, I
would like to recall my personal experience.
A tiny island transforming into a
missile launch complex
In October 1993, the development of
Prithvi missile was almost over. However, the Army desired to have a
confirmatory test, on a land range, to validate Circular Error Probability
(CEP). Our efforts to conduct the tests in our desert range could not take off
due to range safety problems. To overcome this, we were looking for an
uninhabited island in the Eastern coast. On the hydrographic map supplied by
Navy, we saw a few islands in the Bay of Bengal off Dhamra in the Orissa coast
indicating that there were some landmass. DRDO range team hired a boat from
Dhamra and went in search of the island. On the map these islands were marked
as ‘long wheeler’, ‘coconut wheeler’ and ‘small wheeler’. The team carried a
directional compass and proceeded on the journey. They lost their way and could
not locate the Wheeler Island. Fortunately, they met few fishing boats and
asked them for the route. The fisherman did not know about the Wheeler Island
but they said there was an Island called ‘Chandrachood’. They thought that this
could be the Wheeler Island. They approximately gave the direction for
proceeding to Chandrachood. With this help, the team could reach the
Chandrachood Island, which was later confirmed as Small Wheeler Island.
On physical survey of the three
Islands it was found that the long wheeler island had eroded over a period of
time and was not useful for range activities. In view of this, we chose small
wheeler, which had adequate width and length required for range operations. The
team also found some signs of boats from other countries visiting the small
wheeler island. A study of the hydrographic data, including remotely sensed
satellite data, of number of years indicated the erosion characteristic of the
island. After taking over the islands from the Orissa Government for range
activities, we created permanent bunds on the periphery of the selected islands
to prevent the future erosion. This one tiny island has transformed into a
world class missile range complex. While this was being done, due importance
was also given to protect the bio-diversity, particularly the protection and
growth of Olive Ridley turtles popular in this region by plantation of trees on
the coastal line and controlling the night time illumination. Hence, every
island of ours needs periodical survey and based on this survey, we have to
protect our islands.
Navy and its missions
I am delighted to know that the
contribution of Navy has increased fourfold during the last 50 years in the
area of surveillance and protection of our maritime assets. This has been
achieved through the use of higher technology as force multipliers,
State-of-the-art platforms, sensors, sophisticated weaponry, quieter and
efficient systems on all the three dimensions namely underwater, surface and
air.
Some of the notable achievements in
shipping port and water-way development of the Navy includes charting of the
deep water route in the Gulf of Kutch enabling movement of crude oil and other
petroleum product vessels from multiple Indian ports. Also, you have
contributed in the establishment of nine sea ports and many more you will
contribute in the years to come.
The United Nations Convention on the
Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was enacted in 1994 and it was ratified by India in
June 1995. This will result in the addition of 2 million square kilometers of
sea area to our national jurisdiction in the form of Exclusive Economic Zone
with full rights for economic exploitation. There is a need to frame rules for
Governance and Regulations of the development activities within the maritime
zones of India consistent with national security needs. We have to map our
maritime zones with its living and non-living resources as a first step towards
sustained economic development in the sea areas. Navy has to work with the
Department of Ocean Development in evolving a national plan for implementing
this economic development.
Accidents at sea could have
devastating impact on the environment cutting across the national frontiers and
national economy. Navigational safety at sea, therefore, calls for
international co-operation for success. Hence, for protecting our territory and
its surrounding environment we should ensure collection and dissemination of
reliable data in our own sea areas and also our maritime neighborhood.
One major problem in the sea is the
oil slick caused due to spillage from tankers and ship accidents. The slick can
cause substantial damage to the living and non-living wealth of the seas. The
Navy, through its surveillance system should determine the existence of slick
on and under the surface. This information should be provided in real time to
marine biologists for selecting and administering oil-eating or oil-degrading
microbes having particular affinity for consuming hydrocarbon based products.
This is essential for conserving the living and non-living resources of our
seas.
Technological Performance
Technology in all its possible
dimensions affects the sea warfare. The role of technology has often been
summed up in a well known phrase: technology is a force multiplier. For
example, the electronic warfare measures serves both as weapons as well as
force multipliers. Because they result in manifold enhancement of the
effectiveness of existing weapons. EW techniques can change the course of an
orbiting man-made space satellite in such a way that it drifts from the
pre-programmed space orbit, reenters the atmosphere and destroys itself.
Similarly, the harnessing of guidance technology could enable destruction of a
specified target with minimum number of missiles. The convergence of
technologies could also be termed as Force Multiplication. In this direction,
the Indian Navy should work in close cooperation with DRDO, Public and Private
sector industries to get state-of-the-art indigenous stealth platforms, sensors
like sonars, radars, high quality communication systems and precision weapons.
Full advantage may be taken by using the services provided by OCEANSAT launched
by the Department of Space for surveillance, harnessing and estimating ocean
resources and environment. Navy had launched its indigenization programme in
the mid-60s. The first warship built in India with design data from abroad was
INS Nilgiri, it was commissioned June 1972. Since then there has been
continuous ship building programme. I am happy to note that Government has
decided to commence construction of underwater platforms. As a part of their
long term modernization plan for submarine build up, I hope to see the future
class of submarines to carry BrahMos and other vertically launched missiles. I
am happy to note that Navy and DRDO have jointly built the capabilities for
ship design, model testing and design validation.
Conclusion
The growing economic and strategic
positioning of our country is of great importance to the national development.
The whole range of activities on the coast such as oil exploration, increased
cargo tonnage handled in various ports, the growing importance of the oil expressway,
the increasing traffic in the vital sea lanes of communication through the
Malacca Straits, are shifting the focus on the Naval Operations; these extend
from low intensity operations and exercises to multi-faceted joint exercises
and operations with foreign navies. The Sethusamudram Project would further
extend the sphere of activities on the Eastern Sea Board. I am confident that
the Indian Navy with its tradition of dedicated performance will provide the
necessary assistance and security cover in the entire region and be a partner
in our national development missions.
Just now I witnessed India’s sea
power contributed by Indian Navy in high performance through its naval
platforms with force multipliers. This gives me the confidence that the nation
is assured of its maritime security. I would like to congratulate all the
officers, sailors and the supporting staff. The nation is proud of you and I
would like to assure you that the nation is with you in the modernization
programme and the well being of its personnel. My best wishes to all the
members of the Navy for success in their mission of safeguarding the maritime
assets and boundaries of our nation.
May God bless you.”
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YSR/DS/CS