Navy gets facility for uninterrupted communication with ships

NEW DELHI: To establish uninterrupted communication with its deployed ships, especially submarines, the Navy today operationalised a facility at Tirunelvelli in Tamil Nadu which will help it to remain in touch with its strategic vessels across its areas of interest.

"Navy Chief Admiral RK Dhowan inaugurated a new state-of- the-art 'Very Low Frequency' (VLF) transmitting station at INS Kattaboman in Tirunelvelli which would provide a boost to the Navy's ability to communicate with deployed ships and submarines on an uninterrupted basis throughout the year," a Navy release said here.

"India is among a handful of nations in the world that have such a capability. VLF radio waves are used for communicating with submarines that are underwater," it said.

India has only one nuclear submarine 'INS Chakra', which has been leased from Russia, in its fleet. It is planning to induct the indigenously-developed and built INS Arihant in the near future. It has also plans of building more than three nuclear submarines of the Arihant Class in the next few years.

"Being a Navy that deploys globally to represent and protect Indian national interests, the service has an elaborate communication infrastructure, including modern satellite communication facilities, to link and network its deployed units with their home bases and command and control centres," the Navy said.

The new facility has been constructed by Indian private sector firm L and T and boasts of the highest mast structures in the country.