Navy to develop INS Dega to augment civil and military ops

Visakhapatnam: Navy will acquire more land to create better infrastructure at INS Dega, a Naval air station here, to allow more aircrafts with civil and military purposes to operate on the eastern seaboard, a senior navy official said on Thursday.

Addressing the media in connection with the arrival of the P8I, a multi-dimensional aircraft, Commanding Officer of INS Dega, Captain D Bhattacharya said, "INS Dega is a very important naval air station on the eastern seaboard. The Indian navy had acquired eight P8I aircrafts from the United States of America and out of them, seven have already arrived in the country and one more will be added soon."

He said India is the first country in the world to purchase P8I aircrafts from the USA.

All the P8I aircrafts will be stationed at Arkonam in Tamil Nadu, he said.

The anti-submarine aircraft will consist of nine crew members, including two pilots. Its main purpose will be to search and detect submarines with the help of latest radars and equipments, he said.

He said INS Dega is the only naval air station out of the nine naval air stations in the country to launch Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) Hawk training to the fighter pilots.

The naval air station, at present, has 11 AJT Hawk aircrafts and will acquire six more to bring the total strength to 17 in two years, he said.

He said infrastructure will be created at the station for MiG-29 squadron, which will commence its operations as soon as aircraft carrier INS Vikrant is commissioned here within three years.

The air station at present has 40 aircrafts, including naval helicopters, and some more will be added soon, he said.