Indian Navy front-line warship INS Brahmaputra on goodwill visit to Israel

[Screaming Skull]

Indian warship on goodwill visit to Israel​

Haifa, June 01, 2009

Sword Arm Western Fleet, INS Brahmaputra, is on a four-day goodwill visit to this northern coastal city to re-affirm old ties with Israel.

"The visit shows the importance India attaches to its relationship with Israel. Not only that, it is also fitted with the 'state of the art' Barak defence missile system as the first line of defence supplied by it", commander of the warship, Captain Philipose G Pynumootil, said while addressing a gathering on the ship.

"The enthusiasm clearly shows that the Indian ship is in friendly waters. It is not only in Israel but a part of it is also Israeli", India's Ambassador to Israel, Navtej Sarna, said referring to the Barak defence missile system on the warship.

Navy officials on board the ship told PTI that Indian warships have regularly paid visits to ports in the West Asia and East Africa reaffirming their peaceful presence and solidarity with countries in the region. Among those gathered to see the Indian ship was a former commander of the old INS Brahmaputra, Jack Japheth, who is now an Israeli citizen settled in Tel Aviv after retirement.

Dressed in Indian Navy uniform, the 93-year-old former naval officer drew huge applause from the audience when he sang a hit patriotic number from a Raj Kapoor film. INS Brahmaputra, one of Indian Navy's finest guided missile frigates, arrived here from Eritrea and will leave for Naples on June 2.

The warship boasts versatile suite of long range sensors, incorporating radars, sonars and electronic warfare equipment that enable her to simultaneously address threats in all three dimensions--surface, sub-surface and air. When called upon, she can bring to bear awesome offensive or defensive firepower, with her wide-ranging 'top of the line' ordnance.

It has been deployed on humanitarian aid and disaster relief missions on several occasions, including the tsunami relief operations in December 2004 and the Operation Sukoon during the Lebanon crisis in July 2006.

Soon after the tsunami wreaked havoc, INS Brahmaputra made a dash to Campbell Bay in the Andaman and Nicobar group of Islands dropping 18 tonnes of relief material, bringing succour to the unfortunate personnel who had lost their home and hearth to the fury of nature.

During the Lebanon crisis, the ship as part of the Indian Naval Flotilla played a stellar role in evacuating over 2280 Indian and SAARC nationals.

Indian warship on goodwill visit to Israel- Hindustan Times

 

[Peace_maker]

Thats Good!!

 

[Screaming Skull]

Navy steams to foreign shores to build bridges, project power​

31 May 2009,

NEW DELHI: It may be much smaller than Army and IAF but the Navy is going great guns in the quest to promote foreign cooperation as well as project force in tune with India's geo-strategic ambitions.

Even as it continues to take the battle to pirates in Gulf of Aden, and close after holding the `Malabar' wargames with US and Japan in the Pacific, Navy has dispatched four warships on a four-month deployment to Mediterranean Sea and East Atlantic for a simply staggering round of combat exercises.

Guided-missile destroyer INS Delhi, missile frigates INS Beas and INS Brahmaputra, and fleet tanker INS Aditya will engage in high-intensity `Konkan' and `Varuna' wargames with British and French navies during the deployment.

But that's not all. The Indian warships will also undertake simple to complex `passage exercises' with Algerian, Royal Netherlands, German, Russian, Israeli, Turkish, Portuguese, Spanish, Moroccan, Hellenic, Egyptian and other navies, apart from making several port calls ranging from Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) and Massawa (Eritrea) to St Petersburg (Russia) and Naples (Italy).

This, by any standard, is a stunning overseas deployment. The Navy, of course, thinks `big' with `an aircraft carrier-centric mindset', and wants to be the most visible and potent maritime force in the entire Indian Ocean Region.

The deployment obviously sends a clear signal that India is a military power to reckon with, capable of ensuring stability in its immediate maritime environment and projecting force much beyond it.

A senior officer, on his part, says, "Such engagements with regional and extra-regional navies help to generate interoperability as well as gain and share operational and doctrinal expertise. It consolidates bridges of friendship with other maritime forces."

The navies, of course, also learn from each other. The British and French navies, for instance, are considered to be even better than the US one in anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations.

Consequently, the main thrust of `Konkan' and `Varuna' wargames will be on ASW operations, while surface-to-surface warfare, special forces operations and the like will also figure in the drills. "It will give us good ASW experience in the different environs of Atlantic," he said.

The `Konkan' exercise, off Portsmouth from June 20 to June 25, will see the British field two guided-missile frigates HMS Westminster and HMS Lancaster, nuclear-powered submarine HMS Trafalgar, and two fleet auxiliary ships, apart from Nimrod long-range reconnaissance aircraft, fighters and helicopters.

The French, in turn, will participate with guided-missile destroyer Primauguet, guided-missile frigate Le Henaff, nuclear-powered submarine Emeraude, apart from Atlantique-II maritime patrol aircraft, Rafale fighters and helicopters, during the `Varuna' wargames off Brest from June 30 to July 4.

Navy steams to foreign shores to build bridges, project power - India - The Times of India

 

[Screaming Skull]

Indian navy pays goodwill visit to Turkey​

A tanker and a ship from the Indian navy began a three-day goodwill visit to Turkey on Sunday.

The INS Delhi and the INS Aditya docked at the Aksaz Naval Base in Marmaris to improve the understanding and friendship between the navies of Turkey and India and to contribute to the strengthening of relations between the two countries.

Goodwill visits to foreign countries by navies are generally undertaken to enhance relations between nations and foster greater defense cooperation. The INS Delhi and the INS Aditya, in their current voyage, have already visited ports in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Egypt and will proceed from Turkey to Libya before completing their tour in the UK. The commander of the Western Fleet of the Indian Navy, Rear Adm. S.P.S. Cheema, is accompanying the ships.

The last such goodwill visit from the Indian navy to Turkey took place in July 2006, when Indian navy ships docked in İzmir.

Indian navy pays goodwill visit to Turkey