Indian Navy INS Sumedha (P58) is visiting Australia as part of global celebrations for India’s 75th Anniversary of Independence or ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead India’s national celebrations on August 15 and said the Mahotsav was “a festival of awakening of the nation, festival of fulfilling the dream of good governance, and the festival of global peace and development.” The Indian Navy has deployed ships to every continent will be the sole Indian Navy ship in Australia during the Mahotsav celebrations. Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Mark Hammond welcomed the Sumedha’s visit to the Port of Fremantle from August 14-17.
“I warmly welcome Indian Navy Ship Sumedha and her crew to Perth in celebration of this important occasion. “The Royal Australian Navy congratulates India on the occasion of the 75th Anniversary of Independence and the evolution of their Navy into one of the world’s finest and most respected. The Indian Navy and the Royal Australian Navy have a good cooperative and trusted relationship forged over many years. We have been conducting the biennial exercise AUSINDEX together since 2015, and each time it has increased in scale and complexity. This allows us to build interoperability across surface, air, and underwater domains,” Vice Admiral Hammond said.
As well as training together in AUSINDEX, Both countries recently participated in Exercise Rim of the Pacific in July alongside 24 other nations, and participated in Exercise Malabar 2021 alongside the navies of the United States and Japan. Both Navies are looking forward to participating in Malabar again later this year with close regional partners. These bilateral and multilateral activities are a practical demonstration of our shared vision for an open, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific. Following the port visit, Sumedha will undertake interoperability training with HMAS Anzac before heading home.
INS Sumedha (P58) is the third Saryu class offshore patrol vessels (OPV) of the Indian Navy, designed and constructed indigenously by the Goa Shipyard Limited. It is designed to undertake fleet support operations, coastal and offshore patrolling, ocean surveillance and monitoring of sea lines of communications and offshore assets and escort duties. The Naval Offshore Patrol Vessel INS Sumedha was launched at Goa Shipyard on 21 May 2011, and was handed over to the Indian Navy on 11 March 2014. Saryu-class is armed with a 76 mm/62 Oto Melara gun and two 30 mm/65 AK-630 CIWS.
