India And UK Explore The Future Of Electric Propulsion In Naval Vessels

During the second India-UK Electric power Capability Partnership Joint Working Group meeting, which took place in New Delhi on Tuesday, India and the UK talked about the future of electric power in naval ships.

Along with Rajeev Prakash, who is Joint Secretary (Naval Systems) at the Department of Defence Production, Rear Admiral Steve McCarthy is the Director of Ships Operations and Capability Integration at the Department of Defence Equipment and Support.

During the 2022 Defence Expo in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, organizations from India and the UK’s defense business came together to form a new joint working group to make working together better.

A partnership called the Electric Propulsion Capability Partnership was formed after the Gadhinagar expo to help India create maritime electric-propulsion technology for its future warships.

At the moment, India’s military warships don’t have electric propulsion systems. The Indian Navy is thinking about putting them on new boats.

The British and Indian governments met on Tuesday to talk about the Electric Propulsion Partnership. They talked about things like finishing the Statement of Technical Requirements (SOTR), the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) processes, maintenance, the Manning Philosophy, and the System Integration requirements.

The UK Defense in India wrote on X (which used to be Twitter): “Progress through partnership with people and safety at its heart and huge capability opportunity for the@indiannavy.” Our marine engineers are in for some exciting times ahead.

Electric propulsion moves things forward by powering fan blades with electricity.

Developing electric propulsion can help the military in many ways, such as by making more electricity available, lowering carbon emissions, and making ship travel more cost-effective.

India and the UK have been working together on many levels in the defense field for a long time, and defense dialogue has been established at the level of the Defence Secretary.

The Indian army also regularly trades with the two services. For example, the army helps teach officers and puts on joint exercises.

A military drill between India and the UK called AJEYA WARRIOR-23 took place in the UK from April to May of this year. It was the 7th edition of the exercise. The exercise is held every other year in either the UK or India. The most recent one was held in Chaubatia, Uttarakhand.

Two Royal Gorkha Rifles soldiers from the UK and troops from the BIHAR Regiment of the Indian Army were there.

An Indian Ministry of Defence statement said that the exercise was meant to improve military relations, learn from each other’s best practices, and encourage the ability to work together on company-level sub-conventional operations in urban and semi-urban settings under UN mandate. It was also meant to foster interoperability, friendship, and camaraderie between the two armies.