INS Nistar Pacific Reach 2025: The Indian Navy’s new Diving Support Vessel, INS Nistar, made its very first foreign stop at Changi port in Singapore on 14 September 2025. The ship is now working under the Eastern Fleet and will soon take part in a large international event called Exercise Pacific Reach 2025, which starts from 15 September in the South China Sea.
DRDO joins hands with France to make 120-140 kN jet engines for AMCA
INS Nistar: Features
INS Nistar is very special because it is the first Diving Support Vessel that India has both designed and built inside the country. The ship was commissioned in Visakhapatnam on July 18, 2025, in a ceremony attended by Raksha Rajya Mantri Sanjay Seth. It is also the first of two such vessels being built by Hindustan Shipyard Limited. More than 80% of the ship has been made with Indian material and technology.
This ship has many new tools for diving and rescue, like sonar, small underwater robots, and deep-sea gear. It works like a main ship for India’s rescue subs, called DSRVs. India got two of them in 2018 and 2019, one for each coast, which made India part of a small group of countries with such rescue systems.
INS Khanderi vs INS Kalvari: How India’s First Two Scorpene Subs Differ
These subs can go down 650 meters and can be sent fast by ship or even flown by plane to the nearest port. In this exercise, the east rescue team will use INS Nistar to train with other countries, share ideas, and learn to work better together.
Exercise Pacific Reach 2025 in Singapore
Exercise Pacific Reach 2025 is being hosted by Singapore and will involve more than 40 countries, with some participating directly and others joining as observers. The event will have two main parts. The first part, called the harbor phase, will last for a week. During this time, there will be talks about submarine rescue systems, expert discussions, medical meetings, and visits across ships of the different navies.
The second part will happen at sea. Here, INS Nistar, along with the Submarine Rescue Unit (East), will perform live rescue and intervention drills with the other nations’ ships and systems in the South China Sea.
