IT Correspondent
Mumbai, Oct 23:
Admiral Tony Radakin, First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, Royal Navy (UK) whose is on a three day official visit to India, called on Admiral Karambir Singh, Chief of the Naval Staff, Indian Navy on Friday.
Both the navy chiefs held discussions on different topics including maritime bilateral cooperation between both the countries.
Admiral Radakin is also scheduled to visit Indian Navy’s Western Naval Command, at Mumbai, wherein he would interact with Vice Admiral R Hari Kumar, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command. Admiral Radakin would also embark HMS Queen Elizabeth, Flagship of UK CSG 21 which is participating in the ongoing the India-UK Joint Tri-Service Exercise “Konkan Shakti-21”, off West Coast of India.
Sharing a modern partnership bound by strong ties, the bilateral relationship between India and UK was upgraded to a ‘Strategic Partnership’ in 2004 and further strengthened through reciprocal visits by the Prime Ministers. Subsequently, during the Virtual Summit between the Prime Ministers of both the countries on May 4, 2021, ‘Roadmap 2030’ was adopted towards elevating the bilateral ties to a ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’.
The Indian Navy cooperates with the Royal Navy on numerous issues, which include operational interactions such as the Konkan and Maritime Partnership Exercise, training exchanges, exchange of White Shipping Information and Subject Matter Experts in various fields, all of which are coordinated through the medium of Executive Steering Group (ESG) meetings conducted annually. In addition, warships from both Navies regularly make port calls at each other’s ports.
Procurement of arms for Indian Navy
In another development, the Defence ministry signed a contract with the US Government under Foreign Military Sale (FMS) for procurement of MK 54 Torpedo and Expendable (Chaff and Flares) for the Indian Navy at a cost of Rs 423 Crore on Thursday.
These weapons are the outfit of P-8I Aircraft which is used for Long range Maritime Surveillance, Anti-Submarine Warfare and Anti-Surface Warfare (ASV).
