Indian Navy’s ENC to add two warships in 2026

Eastern Naval Command (ENC) Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Vice Admiral Sanjay Bhalla announced that the ENC will welcome two new warships to its fleet in January 2026. In fact, the Indian Navy marked 2025 with the launching of eight new warships including these new two. He added that 2025 has been particularly significant for the ENC, marking a major enhancement of its capabilities.

Addressing a press conference onboard the INS Himgiri at the ENC base in Visakhapatnam as part of the Navy Day celebrations, Vice Admiral Bhalla explained that out of the eight warships commissioned into the Indian Navy in 2025, six ships have already been inducted in the ENC, and the two more will be inducted in January 2026.

“The two vessels are Taragiri, a Nilgiri-class stealth guided-missile frigate, and Anjadip, an anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft. The induction of INS Arnala and INS Androth, both ASW shallow water crafts, has strengthened our anti-submarine warfare posture in the littoral environment. This is an area of growing importance given the rapidly evolving underwater threat landscape,” Vice Admiral Bhalla said.

“The induction of INS Nistar has given a major boost to the Navy’s underwater rescue and diving capability – a specialised proficiency that only a select few navies in the world possesses. Additionally, the induction of three Nilgiri-class stealth frigates— Udaygiri, Himgiri and Nilgiri —has substantially boosted the Navy’s blue-water strike capabilities,” he said.

“All these ships, are equipped with the state-of-the-art indigenous sensors and weapons, and have enhanced our ability to conduct surveillance, maintain deterrence, and ensure robust maritime security along the Eastern Seaboard and across the wider Indian Ocean Region,” shared Vice Admiral Bhalla.

The commissioning of these advanced platforms is a strong testament to India’s expanding shipbuilding capability and to the Navy’s unwavering commitment to indigenisation and self-reliance, he said.

Later, while speaking about the Navy Day celebrations, he said that this year’s Operational Demonstration was held at Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday (December 4), and the city will host the Vizag Navy Marathon on December 14.

On Thursday morning, ENC commemorated Navy Day 2024 (December 4) with a solemn wreath-laying ceremony at the Victory at Sea War Memorial in Visakhapatnam beach. Vice Admiral Bhalla led the ceremony, which several dignitaries joined, including district collector M.N. Harendhira Prasad, police commissioner Shankar Brata Bagchi, GVMC commissioner Ketan Garg among others.