EDITORIAL

The change of guard at the Centre is likely to bring happy tidings for the Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Robin Dhowan, took the initiative and showcased the might of the Indian Navy to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi by organising Prime Minister's Day at sea on June 14, during which the Prime Minister also dedicated the long-awaited air craft carrier INS Vikramaditya to the nation. He also witnessed the traditional high speed manoeuvres by Western Fleet ships and the Air Power Demonstration by various naval aircraft. He also interacted with the naval personnel. The Prime Minister stressed that a country's economic prosperity and development were deeply linked to maritime power, security and infrastructure. While dedicating INS Vikramaditya the Prime Minister said that this is a proud moment for India. INS Vikramaditya will add tremendous might and strategic power to our Navy. Read all about in this issue.

This was followed by the Commanders Conference on June 24, 2014, which was flagged off by the newly appointed Defence Minister Arun Jaitley. In his inaugural address, Jaitley congratulated the men and women of the Navy for discharging their duties with utmost diligence and professionalism. He referred to the prevailing security environment in our neighbourhood and complimented the Navy's efforts for working in tandem with a large number of central and state agencies. Details are also included in this issue.

In our quest to give the naval forces a regional flavour, an insight on the modernisation of the Philippine Navy is included where Philippines plans to initially build its military to a point where it has a Minimum Credible Defence Posture.

The much awaited Union Budget 2014-15 was presented on July 10 by Arun Jaitley, defence aspects of which with analysis are included in this issue. Then there is an article on the need to build India's defence industrial base to achieve self-reliance in military hardware. The interest in autonomous underwater vehicle has been rejuvenated when the search and rescue team for the ill-fated flight MH370 decided to send AUV Bluefin-21, four km underwater, to look for the wreckage of flight MH370 thus there is an overview on AUVs. An article on air-to-surface naval weapons and the usual News in Brief just about wraps the issue. Wish you all readers happy tidings and even more happier reading.