A Deep Dive into Sovereignty

With the commissioning of INS Nistar, India marks a leap in underwater military autonomy and signals its rising ambitions beneath the waves.

In geopolitics, power projection is not just about aircraft carriers or nuclear submarines. Increasingly, it is also about what lies beneath the surface. Earlier this month, India quietly commissioned INS Nistar - its first indigenously designed and built Diving Support Vessel (DSV), into the Eastern Naval Command at Visakhapatnam. It is an engineering feat that marks a subtle but significant evolution in India’s maritime posture, placing it in a rare club of nations that can independently design, construct and operate such high-tech vessels.

Unlike the sleek menace of destroyers or the stealth of submarines, DSVs do not grab headlines. But they are indispensable assets, especially in modern naval ecosystems that increasingly depend on deep-sea operations from underwater maintenance and salvage to submarine rescue and even seabed warfare. In an age where cables carry commerce and oil rigs support economies, DSVs serve as floating platforms for professional divers and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) tasked with everything from pipeline inspection to recovering lost submarines.

DSVs must maintain precise positions near sensitive underwater structures, often in turbulent waters. Their role requires exacting propulsion systems, hyperbaric rescue modules, sonar and ROV suites, and helicopter decks - all integrated into a seaworthy hull capable of enduring extended deployments. Only around a dozen countries, including South Korea, Japan, China, and European powers like Norway and the UK, possess the technical wherewithal to pull it off. India has now joined their ranks.

At 118 metres long and displacing over 10,000 tonnes, INS Nistar is no less formidable than a small frigate. Designed by Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) in Visakhapatnam, it reportedly boasts over 80 percent indigenous content - an encouraging milestone for India’s self-reliance drive in defence production. Its propulsion suite includes bow and stern thrusters, azimuth retractable systems, and dynamic positioning controls to enable stationary operations even in rough seas. It also carries a 15-tonne subsea crane, a diving bell, and advanced sonar systems, in addition to saturation diving capabilities at depths of up to 300 metres.

But Nistar’s strategic importance lies in its role as a mothership for India’s British-built Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicles (DSRVs), which were acquired in 2016 under a contract with JFD. While India had acquired two of these vessels for submarine rescue missions, their operational utility was limited due to the lack of suitable platforms to deploy them from. In one grim illustration, during the ill-fated 2021 incident involving the Indonesian submarine KRI Nanggala-402, Indian DSRVs aboard SCI Sabarmati were dispatched but could not be deployed in time to assist. The tragedy underlined a stark truth: rescue capability without rapid-deployment platforms is as good as absent.

With INS Nistar now in service on the eastern coast and a second DSV reportedly under construction, India will soon be able to mount timely submarine rescue missions on both flanks of the peninsula. This capability is particularly pertinent given the increasing presence of foreign submarines, including Chinese vessels, in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). It also strengthens India’s ability to act as a net security provider in the region, potentially extending aid to other countries during underwater emergencies.

There is more to the story than rescue. The same systems that enable saturation diving and ROV operation also offer a nascent capability in what naval strategists increasingly refer to as seabed warfare. Undersea cables, oil infrastructure, and even autonomous sensors are becoming key nodes of maritime competition, particularly in the Indo-Pacific. Theoretically, INS Nistar, with its subsea reach and advanced tooling, could be refitted or tasked to support missions in these grey zones, especially as tensions mount over maritime infrastructure vulnerabilities. A vessel built for rescue may yet play a role in deterrence.

This commissioning also carries industrial significance. Hindustan Shipyard, long considered a laggard among India’s state-owned shipbuilders, has demonstrated it can deliver sophisticated naval assets, even amid pandemic-related disruptions. The keel of Nistar was laid in December 2019 and launched in September 2022, with final delivery taking place this month. That the vessel is now operational is a quiet vote of confidence in India’s beleaguered shipbuilding sector, which must scale up if India is to meet its maritime ambitions.

More broadly, Nistar reflects the trajectory of India’s maritime doctrine. As China expands its footprint from the South China Sea to the western Indian Ocean, India is methodically improving its own underwater capabilities in form of nuclear submarines, anti-submarine warfare (ASW) corvettes, seabed monitoring, and now, indigenous DSVs. The Indian Navy’s role is no longer limited to coastal defence or limited blue-water forays. It is building toward persistent presence, sustained by logistics ships and sovereign industrial capabilities.

Critics will rightly point out that one DSV does not a transformation make. India still imports its actual DSRVs, and despite Nista’'s launch, challenges in timely execution, cost overruns and technological dependency remain. Nonetheless, it is a start.

In Sanskrit, “Nistar” means deliverance or rescue. Aptly named, the vessel is a symbol of India’s effort to rescue itself from dependence on foreign technology and to dive deep (literally and figuratively) into the waters of strategic self-reliance.

“Shanno Varunah”— may the oceans be auspicious.

(The writer is a retired naval aviation officer and defence and geopolitical analyst. Views personal.)