Indian Navy acquires deep submarine rescue capabilities
New Delhi, Oct 13: Enhancing its operational capabilities, the Navy has inducted its first deep submergence rescue vehicle which is deployed to rescue downed or disaster-struck submarines at high sea.
Navy Spokesperson Capt D K Sharma said that with induction of the deep submergence rescue vehicle (DSRV), India has joined a select group of countries that have the capability to locate and rescue "distressed submarines".
At present, the US, China, Russia and a few other countries have the capabilities to deploy DSRVs.
"Indian Navy joins select league of nations with capability to search, locate and provide rescue to distressed submarines by induction of first Deep Submergence Rescue Vessel(DSRV) and associated kit in fly away configuration," he said.
Though DSRVs are used for rescue of personnel in downed submarines, they are also deployed for various other missions including to lay cables on the sea bed.
Some DSRV vessels are air transportable in very large military cargo.
Capt Sharma said the DSRV which was inducted can be mobilised from the naval base in Mumbai to nearest mounting port by air, land and sea.
The second DSRV is expected to be inducted at Visakhapatnam in 2019.
"The DSRV can be mobilised from Naval base at Mumbai to nearest mounting port by air/ land or sea for providing rapid rescue to the submarine in distress," the Navy spokesperson said.
Indian Navy sources said induction of the DSRV was part of the Navy's efforts to enhance operational capabilities when China has been ramping up its maritime presence in critical sea lanes which are of strategic importance to India.
Last year, the Indian Navy operationalised a new concept of deployment of warships in the Indian Ocean region to effectively counter China's growing presence in the strategically key waters
The "new mission-based deployment" involves deploying mission-ready ships and aircraft along critical sea lanes of communications.
A much-awaited system to locate and evacuate our distressed submariners. Before this, we had to rely on an arrangement where the US would fly out a kit on request - crucial hours would be lost. https://t.co/rLUt8Xi2ls
— Jugal R Purohit (@jugalrp) October 13, 2018
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Ex-minister Ramanath Rai hits out at BJP leader Ashoka for ‘irresponsible’ comments on KC Venugopal
Mangaluru: Congress leader and former minister B Ramanath Rai slammed BJP leader R Ashoka for calling AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal an agent of the party high command, and asked if the general secretary and other office-bearers in the BJP were commission agents too.
Rai, who addressed a press meet at the Congress office in the city on Friday, expressed fury over the recent comments of the BJP leader that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was presenting himself in a shameless manner in public life. Ashoka, who is also Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, had said that the Congress government had ‘broken every previous record on corruption-related controversies’.
“Ashoka has spoken with sheer ignorance and displays his lack of maturity, as he often does while facing the media. KC Venugopal has been working at organization of the party and it is unbecoming of Ashoka to criticize Venugopal as he did,” Rai told reporters.
“Being in a responsible position, how acceptable is it for Ashoka to pass disrespectful, random comments about another leader who also holds a responsible position? If KC Venugopal is indeed an agent of the party high command, what should we consider BJP leaders to be? Are they brokers?” he asked
Commenting on Ashoka’s allegations of corruption in the Congress government in Karnataka, Rai pointed out, “The KSRTC land was sold to private parties when he (Ashoka) was transport minister. We can find several such cases across the state, which need to be probed.”
The former minister, however, refused to comment on the incident that occurred at Mangaluru airport during CM Siddaramaiah’s visit to the city recently.
Former mayors Ashraf and Shashidhar Hegde, Congress activists Vishwas Kumar Das, Subhodaya Alva, Shabeer, Baby Kundar, Padmanabha, Nazeer Bajal and Prem were present.
