INS Vela Docks At Port Salalah In Oman; Second Indian Submarine Visit To Foreign Port In Two Weeks

In a major show of the expanded reach of the Indian Navy’s submarine arm, INS Vela, the fourth Kalvari Class Submarine docked at Port Salalah in Oman.

This is the second time in two weeks that an Indian submarine has docked in a foreign port.

The submarine reached Port Salalah on 28 February 2023 for an operational turn-around (OTR).

Just last week (24 February), INS Sindhusekari docked for the first time ever for OTR, at a port in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia.

A senior official told the Times of India that “this is the first long-range deployment of a submarine which underlines the operational capability and reach of the country’s underwater combat arm”.

The deployment of these two submarines along with the induction of INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya in the Naval fleet will allow the Navy to patrol and dominate the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) more effectively.

This will also help the Navy to monitor and counter the Chinese and Pakistani Navy’s collusive threat in the IOR.

About the docking of INS Vela in Port Salalah an Indian Navy official said, “Indian Navy deploys actively to enhance security in the Indian Ocean Region and engages closely with all maritime neighbors for this purpose”.

INS Vela is the fourth submarine of the six Kalvari class submarines which the Indian Navy bought from the French in 2005 in a deal worth $3.5 billion.

Earlier in January 2023, the Indian Navy inducted the fifth Kalvari class submarine INS Vagir while the sixth submarine, INS Vagsheer was launched in April 2022.

There were reports that the Indian Navy might buy three more Kalvari class submarines with a DRDO-built Air-Independent System (AIP) installed.