Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has praised the Indian Navy s operations in foreign waters, highlighting its ability to assist merchant ships threatened by pirates. He also mentioned the government s readiness to consider the Navy s proposal for a second aircraft carrier, the IAC-II, with a displacement of 45,000 tonnes and estimated cost of around Rs 40,000 crore. Singh emphasized the importance of India becoming self-reliant in the defence sector and set a target of increasing defence exports to Rs 50,000 crore in the next five-six years.
The US has some “catching up” to do with China in the ongoing “strategic competition” for influence in the region of the Pacific Islands, a Biden administration envoy, Joseph Yun, was cited as saying.