Car Nicobar IAF base to add new assets

By Anantha Krishnan M./ AVIATION WEEK/  Port Blair/ October 4, 2010

The Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Car Nicobar soon will have a full-fledged flight detachment, and a medium power radar (MPR) will be commissioned by 2012. “The MPR will further add teeth to the base,” Wing Cdr. M.S. Sridhar, officiating station commander, tells AVIATION WEEK. “We have a Rohini radar now with limited ground control interception. We will also have an air defense weapons squadron.” The base falls under the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC), which has plans to upgrade the facility so all IAF platforms can operate from here. The site sustained severe damage in the December 2004 tsunami. “We lost close to 130 [people] from IAF during [the] tsunami and we have now completely reconstructed the base,” Sridhar says. “The runway was the key. It acted as the lifeline to people here, and it, too, was redone four months after the tsunami. The base had subsided by 1.2 meters, post-tsunami.”

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Navy gears up to add another floating dock in Port Blair by 2014; FDN-2 will cost Rs 250-300 crore

The FDN-1 in Port Blair is Asia's only such facility. Photos: Indian Navy

| By Anantha Krishnan M. | AVIATION WEEK |

Port Blair |  India | September 28, 2010 |

AVIATION WEEK ANDAMAN SERIES-1

The Indian navy soon will add one more floating dock to repair and refit warships at sea. The request for information (RFI) for the second Floating Dock Navy (FDN) facility was issued to shipbuilders worldwide in March. 

The new facility will be smaller than the existing one and will be ready by 2014. It could lift up to 8,000 tons once fully operational and is expected to cost around Rs 250-300 crore ($55-66 million).

The FDN-1 comes under the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC), headquartered at Port Blair. It is the only such facility in Asia, and the Indian navy sees it as strategically located due to its ability to refit a ship. The ANC also is known as India’s only triservice command. 

The FDN-1 is the second-largest vessel of the Indian navy, following its aircraft carrier, but falling short only by 2.2 meters. Built by IHHI of Japan in 1987 at a cost of Rs 20 crore, it can dock all Indian navy vessels except carriers and oil tankers.

“These are maintenance-intense docks and are supported on 12 anchors. It can lift up to 11,500 tons,” says Commander A.K. Sharma, officer-in-charge of FDN-1.

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