Indian Navy pays visit to Portsmouth

The Chief of the Indian Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba has paid a visit to HMNB Portsmouth and HMS Queen Elizabeth as part of a week-long trip to the UK.

The Royal Navy and the Indian Navy have formed the Carrier Capability Partnership which aims to share best practice from the UK’s carrier programme.

As part of this Adm Lanba was given a tour of HMS Queen Elizabeth and an insight into how the Royal Navy worked with key industrial partners to develop the aircraft carrier and her sister ship HMS Prince of Wales.

The First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Philip Jones said: “I am sure we will be able to develop further synergies in our respective future carrier strike capabilities. The important thing is that by developing these capabilities in tandem, we build in a level of interoperability.

“When combined with our regular operational interaction and exercises such as the hugely valuable Konkan series there can be no doubt we will be increasingly well placed to work together across the full spectrum of Naval activity – from disaster relief to high end warfighting.”

Exercise Konkan is an annual UK-Indian naval exercise that is usually held off the coast of Goa and demonstrates the commitment of both nations to building a strong defence partnership. The last ship to take part was Portsmouth-based Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon which is currently deployed in the Middle East.

As part of the Indian Naval delegation’s visit to the UK, Adm Lanba has also been hosted by Chief of Defence Staff General Sir Nick Carter and will visit HM Naval Base Clyde in Faslane, Scotland.