New Delhi: The Indian Navy set 2,000 challenges for industries at the first two editions of its innovation and indigenisation summit, Swavlamban, in 2022 and 2023, followed up by the government granting the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for 22 projects, estimated at Rs 2,200 crore, Vice Chief of Naval Staff Krishna Swaminathan has said. Of the 22, 13 eventually led to acquisition contracts, worth Rs 1,194 crore.
Swaminathan revealed this at the curtain-raiser of the third edition of Swavlamban, which will be held in Delhi on the theme of ‘Strength and Power through Innovation and Indigenisation’ on 28 and 29 October.
Talking about why the summit is important, the vice chief of Navy said, “The Navy started its journey of indigenisation over six decades ago. Swavlamban is an expression of aspiration as a navy to become completely self-reliant. We want to innovate and to indigenise and, through indigenisation, become self-reliant. Swavlamban is an event which gives expression to our aspirations.”
“We are already a very formidable navy…but we want to build next-generation, cutting-edge, state-of-the-art systems,” he added.
Through the summit, the Indian Navy aims to engage with industry partners, academia, policy-makers and other stakeholders to boost self-reliance in different sectors. Like every year, the summit will feature domain-specific seminars and interactive sessions this time.
One of the sessions, ‘Future Warfare and Emerging Technologies’, will discuss autonomous platforms and their impact on warfare, ‘smart’ materials, and quantum navigation and sensing.
Another interactive session is on the theme, ‘Boosting Innovation Ecosystem and Indigenous Defence Ecosystem’. A third session will focus on developing indigenous combat potential and indigenisation of shipbuilding, the role of startups and micro, small, and medium enterprises, and design and development by the defence industrial sector.
A senior officer at the curtain-raiser discussed the benefits indigenous shipbuilding brings to the country. Quoting a Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) study, he said more than 10,000 MSMEs benefitted through the aircraft carrier project alone. INS Vikrant is India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier, and he said that cost-wise, nearly 55-60 percent of the money went to the Indian industries.
“One of the good things about indigenous shipbuilding is that it triggers a lot of national growth, employment, and investment in various ancillary sectors,” Swaminathan said.
Responding to a question by ThePrint, the vice chief of Navy further spoke about the indigenous content in ships. “Broadly, any combat platform is a collection of capabilities. We have found a convenient method of classifying it under ‘float, move and fight component’. While the float component is everything, which makes it survive on the surface, the move is the propulsion, and the fight is the equipment and sensors,” Swaminathan said.
Under the Indian Navy’s shipbuilding efforts much of the float and move component is made in India, the vice chief of Navy added. “With every single shipbuilding project, our indigenisation content is going upwards.”
In one of the Indian Navy’s latest ships, the indigenous content went up to 90 percent, Swaminathan revealed. Furthermore, the Navy has now set up two task forces, headed by rear admirals, to acquire the next generation of technologies.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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