Discuss the significance of indigenous Diving Support Vessels like INS Nistar and Nipun for India's maritime security and submarine rescue capability.

Diving Support Vessels (DSVs) are specialised platforms for deep-sea saturation diving, salvage and submarine rescue — a capability only select navies possess [2]. With INS Nistar commissioned at Visakhapatnam in July 2025 and its sister ship 'Nipun' delivered on 30 July 2026 [1], India has moved from dependence on foreign rescue support to sovereign, indigenously built capability in the underwater domain.

Strengthening submarine rescue capability

• Both vessels carry complex diving support systems and a Deep Submergence Rescue Vessel (DSRV) for submarine rescue [3].
• INS Nistar undertakes diving and salvage operations up to 300 m, with Remotely Operated Vehicles, Diving Compression Chambers and a Self-Propelled Hyperbaric Life Boat [2]; Nipun adds Deep Sea Saturation Diving and a side diving stage [1].
• Two hulls permit simultaneous readiness on both seaboards, cutting response time for a distressed submarine — where survival is measured in hours.

Maritime security dimension

• A credible mother ship for DSRV operations underwrites the confidence of an expanding conventional and nuclear submarine fleet.
• Salvage and wreck-recovery capacity protects sea lines of communication and enables recovery of sunk assets.
• Nistar's participation in Exercise Pacific Reach 2025 at Changi, Singapore [4] projects India as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region, offering rescue assistance to partner navies — an instrument of maritime diplomacy.

Indigenisation dividend

• Designed and built by Hindustan Shipyard Limited, Visakhapatnam, to Indian Register of Shipping rules [1].
• Nipun has nearly 75% indigenous content [1]; Nistar incorporated over 80% indigenous content with 120 MSMEs [2] — deepening the domestic defence shipbuilding ecosystem under Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

Thus, the Nistar-class DSVs simultaneously serve three ends: assured submarine rescue, wider maritime security, and self-reliant shipbuilding. Sustaining this gain requires regular rescue drills, trained saturation-diving crews and interoperability agreements with regional navies. Institutionalised in this manner, such platforms convert technological self-reliance into enduring strategic assurance in the Indian Ocean.