समाचार Samāchār · Defence · 13 November 2026

3,358 Agniveers pass out at INS Chilka. The Navy’s largest batch has 142 women

The ninth Agniveer batch is the largest ever trained at INS Chilka. Navy chief Admiral Krishna Swaminathan told them machines are changing war at sea and judgment still decides it.

The Indian Navy passed out 3,358 Agniveers at INS Chilka in Odisha on Friday. It is the largest single batch ever trained at the institution. It is the ninth Agniveer batch. 142 of the new sailors are women.

Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Krishna Swaminathan reviewed the parade. He said only about 1.5% of the lakhs of applicants made the cut. The batch completed 16 weeks of initial training covering academics, physical conditioning, swimming, parade drill and camps. Credit goes to the instructors at Chilka who trained a batch this size.

The Admiral named the change at sea plainly. “Satellites, drones, Artificial Intelligence, quantum technologies, and autonomous systems are changing how we fight at sea,” he said. His point was that smarter machines make the sailor’s judgment more critical, not less. Of the women in the batch he said they “today become role models for millions.”

The scheme itself has moved. The government announced a revised Agnipath on 4 November, with a two-year extension for those exiting after four years and a route to permanent recruitment subject to eligibility criteria. The Admiral told the batch a regular berth is available but must be earned through performance and conduct.

Scale and quality now have to grow together. A larger intake trained for drones, sensors and autonomous systems is how India builds a navy that can operate what it makes. The measure ahead is retention, skills and how many of these sailors stay to lead.

What a founder takes from it: A modern navy is built on trained people as much as on hulls and sensors. Founders building autonomy, drones and naval electronics should design for the sailor who has to make the final call.