Workers throw confetti during the launch of Ajay, an anti-submarine shallow watercraft (ASW-SWC) for Indian Navy at the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers facility, in Kolkata, India, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)
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The evolving dynamics of modern warfare and the rapid advancement of commercial technology are driving many countries to invest heavily in modernizing their militaries. India, positioned between China and Pakistan, has accelerated efforts to strengthen its armed forces while reducing reliance on traditional partners such as Russia. While India has made advances across all branches of its military, it has placed a particularly strong focus on modernizing its naval fleet. Admiral Dinesh K. Tripathi, India’s Chief of Naval Staff, recently announced at the India Defence Conclave that the Indian Navy is commissioning a new domestically built warship or submarine every forty days. With plans for more than 200 warships and submarines by 2035, India is positioning itself to reshape the balance of power in the Indian Ocean.
The Indian Navy’s Modernization Needs
Maritime security is critical for India, given its 7,500 kilometers of coastline and its central position in the Indian Ocean along a major trade corridor. Nearly 95 percent of India’s trade by volume and 70 percent by value moves by sea, linking its ports to energy suppliers in the Middle East and markets across East Asia. As such, ensuring that these sea lanes remain open is essential for the country’s continued economic growth.
Crew of the Indian Navy survey vessel INS Sandhayak stand on the bridge as it prepares to dock at the international port of Manila on August 1, 2025. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP) (Photo by TED ALJIBE/AFP via Getty Images)
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Meanwhile, China’s growing naval presence in the region has made this goal more urgent. Over the past decade, Beijing has expanded its footprint in the Indian Ocean through military and logistical facilities in Pakistan and the Horn of Africa. The Chinese Navy has undergone rapid modernization, recently commissioning its third aircraft carrier, the Fujian. It has also deployed a series of advanced destroyers and frigates while fielding a growing fleet of nuclear-powered and conventional submarines. These developments have allowed China to sustain deployments throughout the Indian Ocean. For India, this represents a major shift in the regional balance of power.
Pakistan’s naval ambitions add further pressure on India. Islamabad has expanded its fleet with advanced frigates and submarines, supported by Chinese technology and financing. These platforms enhance Pakistan’s anti-ship and undersea warfare capabilities while deepening its strategic ties with Beijing. The growing cooperation between the two countries effectively extends China’s naval reach into the Arabian Sea. This partnership is particularly concerning for India, which faces ongoing border disputes with both nations that periodically escalate into conflict.
India’s Plan For Modernizing Its Navy
The Indian Navy has historically relied on imported ships and technology from the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom. Over time, this slowed modernization and created maintenance challenges. In the early 2000s, the Indian fleet still centered on the aging carrier INS Viraat, a recommissioned vessel that originally entered service in the British Navy in 1959. Meanwhile, the submarine fleet consisted primarily of Soviet-designed, diesel-powered vessels.
The Indian Navy’s Vaghsheer, a diesel-powered attack submarine, gets ready for sea trials ahead of its launch ceremony at the Mazagon Dock Shipyard in Mumbai on April 15, 2022. (Photo by Punit PARANJPE / AFP) (Photo by PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP via Getty Images)
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India has been working to modernize its Navy since the early 2000s, with the effort gaining significant momentum in 2014 under the
Make In India policy, which included defense manufacturing as a targeted sector for domestic growth. One of the major milestones of this modernization effort was the commissioning of the INS Vikrant in 2022, India’s first domestically produced aircraft carrier. Today, this modernization effort is producing a new ship every forty days, with a goal of the Indian Navy operating over 200 warships and submarines by 2035. The construction of these vessels is underway, with 52 platforms already under construction in Indian shipyards, including next-generation destroyers, stealth frigates, corvettes, and submarines.
Central to this transformation is India’s commitment to domestic production. Along with the Make In India policy, this effort aligns with the 2020 Atmanirbhar Bharat (translates to Self-Reliant India) initiative, which seeks to establish a robust defense industrial base. The ships are being built in Indian shipyards using steel from domestic mills. Indian firms are designing the propulsion systems, sensors, and missile platforms, while local companies are developing the software and combat management systems. This push for domestic production reduces India’s dependence on foreign suppliers and strengthens its ability to sustain and modernize its fleet over the long term.
The Role Of The Modernized Indian Navy In The Indo-Pacific
India’s fleet modernization effort is providing new capabilities that will transform its maritime posture from coastal defense to projecting power across the Indian Ocean. The latest surface combatants, such as the P-15B Visakhapatnam-class stealth destroyers, are equipped with advanced munitions including domestically produced BrahMos cruise missiles. India also recently unveiled a long-term plan to develop and build a nuclear-powered carrier that will complement the INS Vikrant. At the same time, the submarine fleet is being upgraded with approximately six nuclear-powered attack submarines to augment the two nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines that recently entered service. These large projects, combined with a number of smaller modernization efforts, aim to give India a technologically advanced and resilient naval force.
INS Nilgiri, left, along with Submarine Vaghsheer, right, and INS Surat during their commissioning ceremony at a naval dockyard in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
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Together, these advances will allow the Indian Navy to maintain a persistent presence across the Indo-Pacific region, conducting operations ranging from carrier strike missions to undersea warfare. The modernized naval fleet allows India to ensure sea-lane security, strengthen deterrence, and rapidly respond to regional threats. It also allows India to counter growing Chinese and Pakistani naval activity, ensuring freedom of navigation for its trade vessels. This buildup supports India’s ambition to project power to provide regional stability from the Persian Gulf to the Strait of Malacca.
The modernization of the Indian Navy is far more than an increase in the number of ships. It represents a strategic shift toward sovereign maritime capability, industrial independence, and sustained regional influence. By fielding advanced, domestically produced surface ships and submarines, India is positioning itself as a maritime power capable of shaping the security and economic order of the Indo-Pacific region in the decades ahead.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/vikrammittal/2025/11/11/the-indian-navy-is-building-and-fielding-a-new-ship-every-40-days/
