Reliance Infra bags deal to maintain US Seventh Fleet

The US Seventh Fleet, which was sent to the Bay of Bengal in December 1971 by then American President Richard Nixon on Pakistan's request to pressure India during the Bangladesh liberation war, will ironically now be maintained by an Indian company.

Reliance Infrastructure Ltd-controlled Reliance Defence and Engineering Ltd has signed an agreement with US navy for maintenance of vessels of its largest forward-deployed Seventh Fleet, whose areas of responsibility include Western Pacific and Indian Ocean regions, reports The Times of India.

The Seventh Fleet, with 100 vessels, 300 aircraft and 40,000 navy and Marine Corps personnel, is part of the US Pacific Fleet and is headquartered at Yokosuka, Japan. Currently, the vessels visit Singapore or Japan for repair work.

Reliance Shipyard in Gujarat's Pipavav has been selected for repair and maintenance works after a survey by US government representatives in October last year.

The agreement will be the first private sector pact after India and the US had last year signed the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement, a tweaked India-specific version of the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) which the US has with several countries with close military ties. LEMOA enables militaries of both nations to use each other's assets and bases for repair and replenishment of supplies.

Rajesh Dhingra, chief executive officer of Reliance Defence, said, "It's a great opportunity to work with the US navy and the deal will help boost cooperation. The pact is a validation of hard work put by our team to achieve the best international standards at Reliance Shipyard."

Reliance Shipyard, the largest in the private sector, is currently engaged in a host of naval and Coast Guard projects.

It is manufacturing five naval offshore patrol vessels at a cost of Rs2,500 crore and has also bagged a Rs1,000 crore contract for building 14 fastpatrol vehicles. The shipyard also got an opportunity to build a 74,500-tonne commercial ship, the largest-ever vessel built by any shipyard in the country, for an international customer.