Future of the Indian Navy
The Indian Navy has been focusing on developing indigenous platforms, systems, sensors and weapons as part of the nation's modernisation and expansion of its maritime forces. As of December 2024, the Navy has a strength of over 130 warships and 251 aircraft and helicopters while the force plans to have between 155–160 warships by 2030 and between 175–200 warships by 2035. According to the Chief of the Naval Staff's statement in December 2020, India has transformed from a buyer's navy to a builder's navy. The Indian Navy plans to commission a vessel every six weeks from 2026.
Summary
Fleet modernisation and expansion
As of 22 September 2025, 54 ships of the Indian Navy are under construction in various stages with 10 ships expected to be commissioned this year itself and the rest scheduled to enter service by 2030. These contracts have a combined value of around. The ships are being constructed in India across 6 shipyard, while the last Indian warship of foreign origin,, from Russia was commissioned in July 2025. The Acceptance of Necessity for 74 additional warships, worth, have been accorded by the Defence Ministry's Defence Acquisition Council, which is chaired by the Defence Minister. Further, multiple programmes are yet to be cleared by the Ministry. This includes the first phase of four 10,000 tonnes next-generation destroyers and an aircraft carrier.By 31 October 2025, the Navy commissioned 10 warships and a submarine while four more ships are scheduled to be delivered by December-end. Moreover, the Navy expects the delivery of 19 and 13 ships in 2026 and 2027, respectively. The service was inducting one warship at an average interval of 40 days.
The Navy is expected to have a fleet of 150–160 warships by 2030, which will further expand to over 200 naval vessels by 2035. The Navy's force level could reach up to 230 surface combatants and submarines by 2037 against today's 140 ships including 17 diesel-electric submarines and 2 nuclear ballistic missile submarines. In April 2025, the Indian Navy also signed a contract to procure 26 Dassault Rafale M fighter aircraft for its aircraft carriers to enhance its Naval Air Arm, with deliveries scheduled to be completed by 2030.
The increasing interest of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy in the Indian Ocean region has led the Indian Navy to invest more in anti-submarine ships, such as the Kamorta-class corvette, long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft such as the Boeing P-8I Neptune and ships such as the Saryu-class patrol vessel and unmanned aerial vehicles such as the IAI Heron Mk2. However the lack of a strong submarine fleet has diminished its capabilities to some extent. Post-Chinese intrusions into Ladakh in 2020, it has been announced that the Indian Navy plans to upgrade the military facilities in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on the eastern seaboard as well as Lakshadweep on the western seaboard, with the aim of having a network of island airbases in both the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal which provides an infrastructure which will guarantee freedom of navigation and overflight to all Indian territories.
On 5 September 2025, the Ministry of Defence published the . The document unveiled plans for the Indian Navy to operate at least 10 nuclear-propelled surface ships including an aircraft carrier,.
Indigenisation
As for indigenisation, the Indian Navy is following the "Roll-on Plan for 2023-26" while the progress is being monitored by Centre for Indigenisation & Self Reliance at Coimbatore. The CISR has two Indigenisation Units with one at Visakhapatnam, whose area of responsibility includes the Eastern Naval Command & Andaman and Nicobar Command and the other at Mumbai to supervise Western Naval Command. Three aspects are recognised for evaluating the indigenous content of a ship which includes Float, Move and Fight categories. As of October 2024, 90%, 60% and 50% of the respective categories have been indigenised. The Navy also plans to increase the indigenous content on already-commissioned frontline warships like INS Vikramaditya, Kalvari-class submarine, Talwar-class frigate and Deepak-class fleet tanker. The Indian Navy is also planning to acquire the HAL TEDBF, an indigenous fighter aircraft currently under development, for its aircraft carriers in the 2030s.On 1 July 2025, the Indian Navy commissioned its last warship of foreign origin,, in Russia. All the following warships will be constructed indigenously by Indian shipyards. Additionally, the Navy also plans a fleet of 13 destroyers and 20 frigates equipped with over 300 BrahMos Supersonic cruise missiles combined by 2030. While each of the new destroyers are equipped with 16 BrahMos launchers each, except for four of six and which are equipped with eight BrahMos launchers each and and, each of the 20 frigates will be equipped with eight BrahMos launchers. Meanwhile, the latter two of the s belonging to the first batch are being upgraded with BrahMos systems.
Index
This indicates that construction OR procurement has been initiated for at least 1 vessel of this class.This indicates that a Request For Information has been issued OR commercial negotiations are underway for at least 1 vessel of this class.
This indicates that the ship class is being considered for future induction, but has not yet been formally approved for procurement.
Submarines
Nuclear Ballistic Missile Submarines (SSBN)
| Class | Picture | Type | No. of Boats | Origin | Displacement | Status | Note |
| Arihant class | Ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) | 4 | Planned displacement of 7,000 tonnes for S4 & S4* vessels | 1 undergoing sea trials, 1 launched, | Second flight of 3 Arihant-class submarines with eight VLS of SLBMs as against four VLS on the first two submarines. Due to development delays of S5-class, another submarine is planned under Arihant Class. | ||
| Ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) | 4-6 | 13,500 tonnes | Planned | In December 2025, it was reported that construction of the first two S5 SSBNs had commmenced with four of the submarines expected to be commissioned by late 2030s. |
Nuclear Attack Submarines (SSN)
| Class | Picture | Type | No. of Boats | Origin | Displacement | Status | Note |
| Chakra III (Akula-class) | Nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) | 1 | 12,770–13,800 tons | Under construction | On 7 March 2019, India and Russia signed a $3 billion deal for the lease of another Akula-class submarine for 10 years. The submarine, dubbed Chakra III, was expected to be delivered in 2025, but was later delayed to 2028. | ||
| Project 77 | Nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) | 6 | 10,000 tonnes | 2 Approved | The Government of India had approved the construction of six such submarines in February 2015. These submarines will be designed by the Indian Navy's Warship Design Bureau and indigenously built in the Shipbuilding Centre at Visakhapatnam. The Cabinet Committee on Security cleared the construction of 2 such submarines in October 2024. |
Ships
Patrol vessels
Aircraft
| Type | Picture | Role | No. of airframes | Origin | Status | Note |
| Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter (TEDBF) | Carrier-based multirole fighter | N/A | Design Phase | The first flight of the TEDBF is targeted for 2032-33 with the fighter expected to be inducted into the Navy by 2038. | ||
| Dassault Rafale | Carrier-based multirole fighter | 26 | On order | The acquisition is a part of the Multi-Role Carrier Borne Fighters programme to acquire 57 fighter jets for the carrier air wing of INS Vikrant. The quantity was later reduced to 26 jets. Rafale-M was chosen over the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in 2023. The deal was signed in April 2025. | ||
| Naval Shipborne Unmanned Aerial System | Unmanned Rotorcraft/Shipborne UAV | 40 | Planned | Proposal to buy 10 NSUAS for around ₹ 1,300 crores cleared by the government in 2021. RFI to purchase total of 40 units released in 2023. | ||
| Multi Utility Long Endurance Drone | Unmanned Rotorcraft/Shipborne UAV | Under development | ||||
| IAI-HAL NRUAV | Unmanned Rotorcraft/Shipborne UAV |  IsraelUSAINDINDGERINDUSAEUINDcollapsible listUSAcollapsible list INDINDINDUSA |