New Delhi: Adm R Hari Kumar, the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Indian Navy visited Australia from September 26 – 28 2022. This was his first official visit to Australia upon assuming the office of the CNS.
During the visit, he held meetings with Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, Chief of Navy, Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Vice Admiral David Johnston, Vice Chief of Australian Defence Forces, Mr Greg Moriarty, Secretary of Defence, Air Marshal Robert Chipman, Chief of Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Air Vice Marshal Mike Kitcher, Deputy Chief of Joint Operations. During these meetings, the leaders expressed their commitment to pursue collaborative activities in several areas of bilateral convergence.
Adm R Hari Kumar visited RAN facilities at HMAS Penguin and Hydrographic School. The CNS, accompanied by Manpreet Vohra, Ambassador of India to Australia and the Chief of Navy, RAN interacted with the prominent members of Australian Think Tanks to understand and develop new maritime cooperation opportunities. The discussions also highlighted the need for raising the level of synergy and focused efforts for overcoming the challenges of the maritime environment.
India and Australia share commonality of perspectives on several contemporary maritime security issues in the Indo-Pacific and have been working together closely in several bilateral and multilateral fora such as the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS).
Coming on the heels of successful participation of Indian Naval Ship Satpura and one P8I Maritime Patrol Aircraft of Indian Navy in the recently concluded multilateral exercise KAKADU, hosted by the RAN at Darwin, the visit of the CNS further consolidated the strong and long standing bilateral relations between two countries.
Adm R Hari Kumar CNS on his first official visit to Australia, was hosted by VAdm Mark Hammond, Chief of Aus Navy. Both leaders reviewed progress of ongoing maritime engagements & discussed ways to strengthen Indian Navy – Australian Navy partnership in Indo-Pacific.
The CNS Adm Hari Kumar held wide ranging consultations with VAdm David Johnston, Vice Chief of Aus Defence Forces & Mr Greg Moriarty, Secretary of Defence, on contemporary issues and identified areas of converging interests.
CNS Adm R Hari Kumar met Air Marshal Robert Chipman, the Chief of Royal Australian Air Force. They expressed commitment to work together in the maritime-air domain to enhance interoperability.
CNS presented a model of the recently commissioned Indigenous Aircraft Carrier INS Vikrant – a symbol of Atmanirbhar Bharat and India’s giant steps towards self-reliance in defence sector, to the Chief of Aus Navy.
