Visakhapatnam: The Indian Navy’s Annual Refit Conference (ARC) and Annual Infrastructure Conference (AIC) will deliberate upon refit plans for all ships and submarines scheduled during the next three years and formulate plans for infrastructure augmentation to meet growing requirements of the Indian Navy.
The two-day conference was inaugurated at headquarters, Eastern Naval Command by Vice Admiral Karambir Singh on Wednesday.
The conference chaired by Vice Admiral G.S. Pabby, Chief of Materiel (COM), Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy) is being attended by all the stakeholders representing the naval headquarters, three naval commands, the tri-services command at Port Blair, dockyards, repair yards and material organisations of the Navy.
Vice Admiral Karambir Singh appreciated the role of naval dockyards and repair yards in undertaking operational repairs and refits of ships and submarines.
He highlighted the growing role of Indian Navy in the context of existing geopolitical scenario and the central role of combat platforms in ensuring secure seas for national prosperity and development. In order to ensure a high-level of performance from equipment and sensors, he urged all agencies to work towards ensuring quality repairs, enhanced operational logistics and strict compliance with mandated routines.
Delivering the keynote address, Vice Admiral Pabby lauded the efforts of naval dockyards, material organisations, repair yards, trials and inspection agencies in ensuring operational availability of machinery, weapons and sensors, including emergent hull repairs during the past year. He urged all stakeholders to remain focused and complete on time whilst adopting new technologies and innovative repair methodologies, particularly for legacy systems and equipment.
He also urged all concerned to focus on greater indigenisation in keeping with the spirit of the ‘Make in India’ initiative. This morning, the conference deliberated upon technical and logistics aspects, concerning refits and towards developing a comprehensive maintenance philosophy for ensuring higher availability of combat platforms.
