Indian Navy counts 10 yrs of gains in the Gulf of Aden
NEWDELHI: All set to clock a decade of deployment in the Gulf of Aden (GOA) in three months, the navy is counting the gains of its sustained presence in the world’s most dangerous waters for commercial shipping.
The deployment has helped the navy establish effective maritime domain awareness (MDA) in the western Arabian Sea, respond to emergencies and also reverse the trend of piracy spreading to the eastern parts of the sea, said two officials monitoring India’s anti-piracy effort in the GOA.
After kicking off anti-piracy patrols on October 23, 2008, a total of 70 Indian warships have so far been involved in carrying out round-the-clock surveillance of the piracy-infested waters, according to the navy’s figures.
“By virtue of its sustained deployment in the GOA and the Indian Ocean region (IOR), the navy has a very good idea of the movement of white shipping (trade) as well as warships of other countries in our area of responsibility,” said navy spokesperson Captain DK Sharma, one of the officials cited above.
As of July 26, Indian warships had escorted a total of 3,428 ships in the GOA and thwarted 44 piracy attempts on merchant vessels.
Sharma said the deployment for anti-piracy missions also enabled the navy to swiftly respond to other challenges such as noncombatant evacuation operations, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief and other contingencies such as Op Rahat to evacuate Indian and foreign nationals from Yemen in 2016.
The deployment of the Indian Navy and other international navies in the GOA had an unexpected outcome. With patrolling by global navies putting Somali pirates under pressure, their activities began spreading to the eastern Arabian Sea.
Amid rising incidents of piracy in the Arabian Sea in 2010, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) extended the highrisk area (HRA) for commercial shipping from 65 degrees east lon- gitude to 78 degrees, declaring the entire Arabian Sea as a piracy-infested region. The revised piracyprone zone extended right up to Cape Comorin in Tamil Nadu.
This led to floating armouries, hired by merchant vessels and laden with unauthorised weapons and ammunition, coming dangerously close to the country’s shores. Insurance costs also skyrocketed. “To counter this, the navy scaled up its deployment in the eastern Arabian Sea from November 2010. Intensive deployments helped reduce piracy incidents to zero by 2012 and by 2015, the IMO revised the HRA to the earlier limit,” said the second official.
The previous limit to the HRA was 600 nautical miles (1,111 km) away from the Mangalore coast.
The Enrica Lexie incident of February 2012 in which Italian marines killed two fishermen occurred due to the extension of the HRA. The Italian tanker was sailing barely 20 nautical miles (37 km) from the Kerala coast to steer clear of the then newly-demarcated piracy zone.
“Multi-mission capability provides for a responsive and sustained presence in critical choke points and sea lines in the IOR under the PM’S overall vision for Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR). The navy continues to remain the net security provider and first responder in the IOR,” Sharma added.