Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, the FOC-in –C of Western Naval Command (WNC), today inaugurated a ‘Naval Air Enclave’ at Santa Cruz airport in the suburbs of Mumbai City. The facility which is designed to handle all fixed-wing aircraft of the Indian Navy has been constructed adjacent to the main runway of the busy CSI airport.
The inauguration ceremony had senior naval personnel and state officials in attendance. Vice Admiral Girish Luthra speaking after the inauguration lauded the efforts of the agencies involved in establishing the facility.
Speaking about the tryst between the Indian Navy and Mumbai he said “The city of Mumbai and Indian Navy have had long standing relations which were not restricted to the Dockyard or harbour areas. Decades ago, naval helicopters and Super Constellation surveillance aircrafts operated from the same airport. Among others, I thank, Airport Authority of India, MIAL, CISF, Air India, contractors and Military Engineering Service for their support and co-operation in operationalizing this facility.”
The addition of an air enclave on the Western sea board is a major boost to the surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities of the Indian Navy. This operational boost comes even as India gears up to counter the increasing Chinese presence in the IOR and the Arabian Sea.
The navy’s long range maritime surveillance platforms such as the Boeing manufactured P8I and the Soviet-era Tupolev Tu-142 aircraft are based out of INS Rajali on the Eastern sea board. As China increases its naval presence with the deployment of nuclear submarines and surface combatants, the Indian Navy is being forced to increasingly deploy these aircraft in the Western theatre.
The navy under its command has only two naval air stations in the Western theatre — INS Garuda in Kochi and INS Hansa in Goa. The navy has conceived several projects to ramp up its aerial capabilities in the Western theatre.
The ‘naval air enclave’ activated in Santa Cruz will provide the navy a strong foothold in the region. The facility which features reinforced hangars and maintenance facilities will act as a forward base for the long range surveillance aircraft. The P8Is taking off from the airport can effectively scour the waters for hours at times providing the navy with enhanced operational awareness.
