India’s vision is to embark on a major shipbuilding mission for both the defence and civil sectors, said the Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh on Friday, as he highlighted the transformative era in the maritime capability of the country. Singh was speaking at the launch of the third chapter of the GRSE Accelerated Innovation Nurturing Scheme (GAINS) programme.
The startup challenges and similar programmes are designed to speed up the technology development in the defence and aerospace sectors, Singh cited, saying, "India is at the cusp of a transformative era in maritime capability," he said, adding that the "vision is to embark on a major shipbuilding mission, not only for defence, but for the civil sector as well. The idea is to design, engineer, and produce world-class vessels that embody efficiency and sustainability."
The onset of artificial intelligence (AI) and the fast growth of the unmanned and optionally manned vessels have further reinforced India’s maritime capability transformation, the defence secretary added.
In order to develop prototypes a suitable support needs to be guided into a specific path, followed by a spiral development model "with strong and assured procurement support by the government”, he cited, expressing hope for much more engagement in the defence sector with the startup community in the country, "by broadening and widening both the existing schemes and also ensuring that our procurement window gives much more opening for the startup community."
Maintaining that GRSE has been at the forefront of innovation in the shipbuilding sector, developing cutting-edge technologies, he said, "schemes such as GAINS demonstrate the commitment of the shipyard towards giving primacy to innovation."
Singh said GRSE is on the way towards, through a competitive process, possibly building the next generation corvettes in India, setting a new trend in Indian Defence shipbuilding. He also lauded the Defence PSU shipyard for having delivered the first indigenous warship, INS Vijay, in 1961 and continuing to be at the forefront of warship building in the country.
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