PM's day at sea on aircraft carrier Indo-Asian News Service
Panaji, May 5 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be exposed to the entire gamut of combat operations when he spends a night aboard the Indian Navy's sole aircraft carrier INS Viraat Friday. With this, the prime minister would have been exposed to all three wings of the armed forces, having spent time with Indian Army troops on the Siachen Glacier and witnessed manoeuvres by Mirage 2000 bombers of the Indian Air Force at Gwalior. His interaction with the navy will, however, be the longest as he will be spending almost 24 hours on the aircraft as it sails towards Mumbai, where the prime minister will disembark Saturday afternoon. During the voyage, the prime minister will witness activities ranging from the Sea Harrier jump jets taking off and landing, missile firing and elements of submarine warfare. "We will be using the opportunity to explain to the prime minister the three dimension combat prowess of the navy and how this can be leveraged to further the country's geo-strategic objectives," a naval officer explained. Escorting INS Viraat during the voyage will be the newly-acquired Talwar class stealth frigates, as also the Brahmaputra and Godavari class frigates and Delhi class destroyers. The prime minister's wife Gursharan Kaur and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee will accompany Manmohan Singh on the voyage, which comes three months after President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam went on a submarine off Visakhapatnam. The trip had originally been planned for October. It was first postponed due to the wrist surgery Manmohan Singh had to undergo and then by the serial blasts in Delhi and the visits of the French and US presidents. _____________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. Goanet mailing list ([email protected])
