New Delhi: Highlighting the Indian Navy’s key role in ensuring strategic depth, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday that the presence of Indian warships extends to the South China Sea, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean, demonstrating the country’s blue-water force capability.
Addressing the second edition of the Indian Navy’s biannual Commanders’ Conference 2026 at Nausena Bhawan in Delhi, Rajnath Singh called for a significant upgrade of India’s maritime surveillance architecture, recognising the importance of existing systems.
He added that the growing volume and complexity of maritime traffic require enhanced analytical capabilities, an official statement said.
He reiterated the government’s commitment to the modernisation of the Navy under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The Indian Navy serves as a strategic anchor in the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’. Beyond merely guarding maritime boundaries, our Navy strengthens economic protection, regional stability, and power projection,” he said.
The Defence Minister urged the Indian Navy to maintain its unrelenting momentum while transforming itself into a future-ready, combat-ready, and globally respected force.
“India stands firm as the First Responder, Preferred Security Partner, and as a symbol of trust and reliability in the Indian Ocean Region, and the entire world is witnessing the growth of both our strategic position and our strategic responsibility in the region,” he said.
“Today, issues such as congestion, deception, and grey-zone activities have made our maritime domain far more complex than ever before. Hence, we must elevate our monitoring and response mechanisms to a new level,” he said.
Lauding the Indian Navy’s role in the crisis in West Asia, Rajnath Singh highlighted that ensuring the safe transit of Indian-flagged merchant vessels — particularly LPG tankers — through the Strait of Hormuz under ‘Operation Urja Suraksha’ is an outstanding achievement.
India imports approximately 85–90 per cent of its crude oil and around 50 per cent of its natural gas through maritime routes; therefore, the security of sea lanes is directly connected with the country’s economy, energy supplies and defence preparedness, he added.
Underlining the Navy’s efforts towards achieving self-reliance in the defence sector, Rajanth Singh emphasised, “The Indian Navy’s warship production ecosystem is now meeting global benchmarks. The warships commissioned recently contain over 75 per cent indigenous content. In the times ahead, we must not only meet our own requirements but also export our warships to friendly foreign nations.”
Rajnath Singh also interacted with the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and the Chief of the Army Staff during the Conference.
The three-day apex-level conference, being held from September 29 to October 1, brings together the top leadership of the Indian Navy to review operational preparedness, maritime security and future capability development, said the statement.
(IANS)
