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Josy Joseph in New Delhi
For the first time after its extensive refit, INS Viraat, India's only active aircraft carrier, will sail out of the country's territorial waters later this year, leading a carrier battle group to Arab ports, including Aden in Yemen, where the United States Navy maintains a strong presence.
The ship will, however, be without its brand-new Israeli Barak anti-missile systems. A senior naval officer said this was not a deliberate decision and explained that some time is needed to fit the systems. The work will probably be done next year.
This is the first time in more than two years -- when Viraat was undergoing an extensive refit at the Cochin Shipyard and at Mazagon Dock in Bombay -- that a carrier battle group of the Indian Navy will be visiting foreign ports.
The ship will carry Sea Harrier aircraft and Sea King helicopters, besides the Russian-built Kamov helicopters deployed extensively for anti-submarine warfare.
The visit is seen as a public display of the navy's growing blue-water capabilities.
Viraat, originally HMS Hermes, was sold by Britain to India in 1986 and commissioned into the navy the next year. It is now the navy's only aircraft carrier in service, after INS Vikrant was retired in 1997.
The navy's dream of acquiring a second carrier is trapped in time-consuming, laborious negotiations over the ageing Russian carrier, Admiral Gorshkov.
The navy has also put in process a project to indigenously build an aircraft carrier at Cochin. The shipyard is being refurbished for the work, expected to start sometime next year and last for a decade.
The navy's strategic planning demands at least two aircraft carriers, one each with the Western and Eastern naval commands. Viraat is stationed in Bombay, headquarters of the Western Naval Command.
A senior naval officer said the carrier battle group would visit several countries in West Asia. "Each ship in the group will be allotted a country each to visit," he explained. The navy is yet to decide which port Viraat will visit.
The navy has been expanding the contours of maritime diplomacy through friendly visits to several nations, including to the US and Europe. It also conducts regular biennial friendly meets, Milan, with Indian Ocean rim nations. Among the navy's significant recent visits have been some to Chinese ports. The Chinese's People's Liberation Army Navy had reciprocated with a visit by two destroyers to Bombay.
The Indian Navy's latest and most prized warships, the indigenously built Delhi-class destroyers, are among the vessels that have been making visits abroad. INS Delhi last year took part in the July 4 parade at New York.
Come September a Delhi-class destroyer and a tanker will be cruising to Australia to take part in an international fleet review in October. The destroyer will also visit New Zealand.
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