Indian Navy

The **Indian Navy** is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates significantly in the Persian Gulf Region, the Horn of Africa, the Strait of Malacca, and routinely conducts anti-piracy operations with other navies in the region. It also conducts routine two to three month-long deployments in the South and East China seas as well as in the western Mediterranean sea simultaneously.

The primary objective of the navy is to safeguard the nation's maritime borders, and in conjunction with other Armed Forces of the union, act to deter or defeat any threats or aggression against the territory, people or maritime interests of India, both in war and peace. Through joint exercises, goodwill visits and humanitarian missions, including disaster relief, the Indian Navy promotes bilateral relations between nations. Since October 2008, the Indian Navy keeps at least one frontline warship on continuous deployment in the Gulf of Aden.

## Aircraft carriers

The Navy has two aircraft carriers in active service, one of which is the INS Vikramaditya, which serves as the flagship of the fleet. Vikramaditya is a modified Kiev-class aircraft carrier procured at a total cost $2.3 billion from Russia in December 2013. A second aircraft carrier, the indigenously built INS Vikrant was commissioned on 2 September 2022. The Navy has an amphibious transport dock of the Austin class, renamed as INS Jalashwa in Indian service. It also maintains a fleet of landing ship tanks.

## Infobox (military unit)

- **unit name**: Indian Navy
- **image**: Indian Navy Insignia (2022).svg
- **image size**: 100px
- **caption**: Emblem of the Indian Navy
- **type**: Navy
- **role**: Naval warfare, force projection, sealift, Massive retaliation, nuclear deterrence
- **size**: 64,000 active personnel
50,000 reserve personnel
 (List of active Indian Navy ships, 250 ships including auxiliary ship, auxiliaries)
Approx. List of active Indian military aircraft#Naval Air Arm, 300 aircraft
- **garrison**: Delhi Cantonment, Nausena Bhawan, Delhi Cantonment, New Delhi
- **garrison label**: Headquarters
- **motto**: Varuna|
 (Taken from Taittiriya Upanishad)
- **colours**: Navy blue, gold and white

- **equipment label**: List of active Indian Navy ships, Operational fleet
- **anniversaries**: Navy Day (India), Navy Day: 4 December
- **commander1**: Admiral (India), Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi
- **commander1 label**: Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS)
- **commander2**: Vice Admiral (India), Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan
- **commander2 label**: Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (VCNS)
- **commander3**: Navy Master Chief Petty Officer, Dilbahadur Chhetri, MCERA I
- **commander3 label**: Navy Master Chief Petty Officer
- **identification symbol**:
- **identification symbol label**: Indian Naval Ensign, Ensign
- **identification symbol 2**:
- **identification symbol 3**:
- **identification symbol 4**:
- **identification symbol 2 label**: Flag of India, National Flag
- **identification symbol 3 label**: Commissioning pennant, Pennant
- **identification symbol 4 label**: President's Colour Award, President's Colour
- **aircraft fighter**: Mikoyan MiG-29K, Dassault Rafale, Dassault Rafale-M
- **aircraft helicopter**: HAL Dhruv, Dhruv, Kamov Ka-28, Ka-28, Kamov Ka-31, Ka-31, Westland Sea King, Sea King Mk.42C, UH-3 Sea King, HAL Chetak, Chetak, Sikorsky MH-60R
- **aircraft helicopter utility**: HAL Dhruv, Dhruv
- **aircraft patrol**: Boeing P-8 Poseidon, Dornier 228, Britten-Norman BN-2
- **aircraft recon**: IAI Heron, IAI Searcher, IAI Searcher Mk II, General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper, General Atomics MQ-9B SeaGuardian
- **aircraft trainer**: BAE Hawk, HAL HJT-16 Kiran, HAL HJT-16, Pipistrel Virus, Mikoyan MiG-29K#variants, MiG-29KUB
- **native name**: भारतीय नौसेना