In news- Defence minister Rajnath Singh recently visited the Karwar Naval Base to review the progress of ongoing infrastructure development under ‘Project Seabird’.
Project Seabird-
- INS Kadamba is an Indian Navy base located near Karwar in Karnataka.
- The first phase of construction of the base, code-named Project Seabird, was completed in 2005.
- Development of Phase II commenced in 2011.
- INS Kadamba is currently the third largest Indian naval base.
- In the early 1980s, then Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Oscar Stanley Dawson conceived of a dedicated naval base sandwiched between the hills of the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea near Karwar.
- The location had significant advantages as being very close to the world’s busiest shipping route between the Persian Gulf and east Asia.
- It also offered a natural deep-water harbour.
- In 1999, following Pokhran-II, then Defence Minister George Fernandes approved Project Seabird to pursue the construction of the new naval base.
- The Binaga Bay was dredged and its rock outcrops blasted to allow even large aircraft carriers to turn inside the bay.
- The Phase-IIA expansion approval was obtained from the Cabinet Committee on Security in 2012.
- The work commenced in 2016 and is expected to be completed by 2022.
- After the completion of Phase II-B of the project, INS Kadamba will be the biggest naval base east of the Suez canal.
Source: PIB
