A sound sensor array in the Indian Ocean could prove invaluable for India which has a major anti-submarine warfare handicap and a lack of operational submarines.
India’s future submarine fleet operations are likely to involve SSKs and SSNs operating in the littoral spaces, in a strategic environment sanitized and protected by SSBNs. If New Delhi can ensure compliance with present construction deadlines, it could put its submarine modernization plans back on track.
Maritime security challenges in the Indian Ocean Region continue to be an issue of concern and this effective regional mechanism needs to be strengthened to deal effectively with them.
For Indian observers, it is useful to extrapolate known Chinese position in the Indian Ocean Region and assess Beijing’s likely strategic behaviour. Indian policymakers might well recognise the fact that once China finds itself in a position of maritime advantage, diplomatic engagement has limited utility as a bargaining tactic.
Hitherto, the India-China border dispute was largely a land-air contingency. Now, the PLA Navy’s presence in the IOR adds the third dimension and needs to be factored in future planning and preparations.
The inability to portray greater strategic ambition for the Indian Navy renders this document an exercise in smart profile-building rather than one of purposeful image-projection.
Africa needs not only maritime administration frameworks and the local capacity to enforce regulations, but also a model for sustainable blue-economy development that does not result in the destruction of its natural maritime habitat. In this, it can use India’s assistance.
As India reorients its maritime posture to cater to the new realities of Asia, there is a realisation that regional maritime stability is increasingly susceptible to growing power imbalances.
The fractious nature of maritime relations in the Asia-Pacific region is a recognisable feature of international geopolitics today. Following China’s massive reclamation and ‘island-building’ project in the South China Sea recently, many Pacific states have moved to bolster their maritime postures. While Japan has sought legislative amendments to liberate its maritime posture from post-war passivism, Vietnam and the Philippines have been building stronger navies aimed at countering China’s hostile moves in the South China Sea.
Nothing conveys strategic intent as effectively as the large conventional warship whose mere presence can provide a decisive psychological advantage in strategic scenarios.
