Our country has a long coastline extending to Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. Obviously, we have to guard our seaports and maintain the freedom of the maritime channels of international trade and commerce. This means that we need adequate naval strength to undertake the guarding of the vast sea line. This is the reason why our naval forces have been demanding adequate funding for more than a decade in the past arguing that the navy needed updated missile regime to secure Indian coasts against foreign intrusion. It is good to know that the Defence Ministry understands the compulsion that we have and has acted accordingly. The ISRO has successfully test- fired GSAT 7. For the Navy, this is part of a long-term modernization plan involving the use of satellites and information technology. In recent years successive Chiefs of Naval Staff have identified space-based communications as the core of the Navy’s futuristic network-centric operations. Thanks to our capable scientists who are dedicated to the task of building a modern navy with considerable strike power in its missile regimes. We are rightly proud of them and their deep sense of patriotism.
Now that we are moving forward in our naval defence capability by inducting modern weapons and equipment to its strike force, we would make it clear to our neighbours that India never nourished any nefarious designs against her neighbours. If our country is developing and improving her naval strike force, it is not intended to be against any country. It is a self defence mechanism to which our country, like any other in the world, is entitled. Self defence has become all the more important in view of China, our arch rival in the Asian Content, building strong naval presence in the Indian Ocean. When the Defence Minister says that his Government is fully aware of her defence responsibilities, it means that he will not remain complacent on the critical issue of availability of sophisticated defence material. Therefore the test firing of satellites from the bases allotted to her is in line of our defence preparedness.
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