US sending group to discover upkeep of its vessels at Indian shipyards: Defence Secretary

By PTI

MUMBAI: India has requested the US to allow it to offer upkeep and restore amenities in Indian shipyards for American naval vessels current within the area, Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar mentioned on Wednesday. He mentioned a group of US officers will quickly go to Indian shipyards to evaluate this chance.

Responding to a query from reporters on the sidelines of the launch of submarine INS Vagsheer, Kumar mentioned this matter was mentioned by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his US counterpart Lloyd J Austin III in the course of the 2+2 dialogue held in Washington earlier this month.

“We requested the US side to enable us to provide maintenance and repair facilities (of their vessels) which are present in this region. The US has agreed to send a team to talk to our shipyards and work out the feasibility in this regard. We expect this team will be here shortly. They will be visiting other shipyards, but they will (also) be visiting Mazagon Dock (in Mumbai),” he added.

Asked whether or not comparable discussions are being held with different nations too, Kumar mentioned Indian shipyards have been speaking to plenty of nations throughout totally different geographies – in South America, Africa and Asia, notably West Asia and the ASEAN area… in some nations we’re already within the strategy of supplying varied sorts of naval boats and patrol vessels. “In some other countries, we are in discussion,” the senior bureaucrat mentioned.

Narayan Prasad, Chairman and Managing Director, Mazagon Dock Shipyards Ltd (MDL), mentioned this situation got here up for dialogue in the course of the go to of Admiral Michael Gilday, US Chief of Naval Operations, in October final yr.

He, nonetheless, cited logistical points at state-run MDL for upkeep of enormous vessels. Prasad mentioned that the size, breadth of the US amphibious platforms, touchdown platform docks, assist vessels is above 220 meters and their displacement is above 25,000-30,000 tonnes.

“The length and breadth of the draft of the ships they are trying to entrust the repairs with… very few shipyards have the capacity of dry docks (to accommodate the ships). We have said we can completely take care of those ships whose length is less than 200 metres,” the MDL chief had mentioned throughout an interplay with reporters final week.

The Cochin Shipyard has capabilities to cope with such enormous amphibious platforms, Prasad mentioned, including the work could be finished collectively together with the Mumbai Port Trust.

India and the US had inked the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in 2016 that enables their militaries use one another’s bases for restore and replenishment of provides in addition to present for deeper cooperation.