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.

 References 

Category:Navies

Category:Indian military organizations