Indian Army gets advanced amphibious warship

Mumbai, Oct 3 (IANS) One of the most advanced amphibious warships of the Indian Navy, the INS Shardul, was Friday formally affiliated to the 5 Armoured Regiment of Indian Army, at the Mumbai naval harbour.

The ceremony was conducted Friday morning aboard INS Shardul, a large landing ship tank, a defence spokesperson said.

Rear Admiral Anil K. Chopra, flag officer commanding, Western Fleet, Maj. Gen. G.S. Malhi, Commandant of 5 Armoured Regiment Col. R.K. Magotra signed the Charter of Affiliation with Cdr. Shailendra Singh, the commanding officer of INS Shardul.

Shardul, meaning the tiger, symbolises agility, strength and valour and has been built by the Garden Reach workshop, Kolkata.

Loaded with state-of-the-art equipment, INS Shardul is an amphibious warship capable of transporting various kinds of combat operations, personnel and accomplishing all objectives of landing (beaching) operations.

The 5 Armoured Regiment holds some of the most potent and advanced tanks in the world.

Since 2002, the regiment has been at the cutting edge of the mechanised operations.

Though the armed forces have a long tradition of 'affiliating' their units, the modern military trend of all three services - army, navy and air force - fighting wars jointly has added an operational aspect to the tradition, observed Rear Admiral Chopra in his welcome remarks.