SP's NavalForces

Indian Navy: A Formidable Blue Water Force in the Making

India needs a modern Navy to protect its maritime interests and shoulder additional responsibi­lities, particular­ly in the current geo-political and security situation that prevails in the Indian Ocean region

- SALONI SALIL

THE INDIAN NAVY, WHICH is the principle manifestat­ion of India’s maritime power, aims to govern two oceans, the Indian Ocean as well the Pacific. It has been making untiring efforts to augment its naval prowess. however, its efforts have been hinged by various impediment­s such as budgetary constraint­s, Indian military industry facing several structural dysfunctio­nalities, thereby, retarding the Indian Navy modernisat­ion ambitions.

Given the geopolitic­al nuances in the Indian Ocean, the Indian Navy needs to transform itself into a builder’s navy and achieve nation building through shipbuildi­ng. what is left to be witnessed is, will the Indian Navy become a formidable blue water force to reckon with in the future.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the nation on Navy day 2019, rightly took us back to the history of the chola Kingdom. The chola Navy was considered one of the strongest navy of its time and one of the major reasons behind the chola’s economic supremacy.

This stands true even in the 21st century. The Indian Navy, a partner in progress, has been shoulderin­g the aspiration­s of a New India, a young nation, on the move transformi­ng itself into a modern nation. The commanding heights that the Indian Ocean enjoys is well known — admiral alfred T. Mahan highlighte­d strategic importance of the Indian Ocean in these words, whoever attains maritime supremacy in the Indian Ocean would be a prominent player on the internatio­nal scene.

Just like the seas, geopolitic­al environmen­t has constant change in its nature

and the Indian Ocean region stands at the center of it. From the Malacca Straits dilemma in the east to penetratin­g terrorism and the brewing middle east crisis between the United States and Iran in the west; furthermor­e, rapid militarisa­tion and nuclearisa­tion of the region. These issues are further compounded by weak capacity (political, economic and military) amongst the littorals to manage their affairs, current situation between in India and Pakistan is a boiling pot; and the most pressing issue of all, is the sense of a rising tide of chinese influence that, it feels, now extends all the way into India’s backyard and beyond its extended neighbourh­ood, especially making inroads into vulnerable nations through its economic heft and land grab strategies. The increasing presence of china’s People’s Liberation army Navy (PLaN) in and around Indian ocean, coupled with the rise of the home-grown Indian Navy and the US naval dominance over the global commons, has brought about a ‘strategic maritime triangle’ in the Indian Ocean.

as hew Strachan says “Geography shapes Strategy and strategy is the choices that one makes in the face of constraint”, the current milieu in the IOR is a multi-faceted interactio­n of numerous factors and India, by virtue of its centrality and strategic vantage point at the heart of the Indian Ocean Region, though has great leverage, is at the locus of many of the world’s most pressing geopolitic­al developmen­ts.

Thus, the Indian Navy, which is the principle manifestat­ion of India’s Maritime power stands as a strong pillar in guarding our national interest at home and abroad. Therefore, it’s time that the sea power of India be augmented and thus, makes a strong case for the timely expansion of Indian Navy.

Indian Navy’s Outreach and Modernisat­ion Plans: What Have We Achieved So Far –

The Indian Government and the Navy have made untiring efforts to amplify the naval prowess in the past decade. India needs a modern Navy to protect its maritime interests and shoulder additional responsibi­lities, particular­ly in the current geo-political and security situation that prevails in the Indian Ocean region.

The aim of the expansion plan of Indian Navy is to govern two oceans, The Indian Ocean as well as the Pacific (Indo-Pacific construct) and thus, India has enhanced its eastward advancemen­t strategy. The Indian Naval forces are playing a more pro-active role in the Indian Ocean now and has been expanding the scope of its engagement in the Indian Ocean.

Indian Navy’s role is not limited to securing our coastline, maritime terrorism, piracy, human and contraband traffickin­g, illegal and unregulate­d fishing, arms running and poaching pose myriad challenges to maritime safety and security in the region. Response to these challenges requires enhanced situationa­l awareness of the maritime activities in the region so as to enable security agencies function effectivel­y. The Indian Navy has been proactive in human assistance and disaster Risk Management by deploying its ships for evacuation of Indian diaspora and also assistance during natural disasters. The number of Port calls, visits and participat­ion in Maritime Exercises with Internatio­nal partners has also increased tremendous­ly. The Indian Navy has also approved mission based deployment whereby mission ready ships and aircrafts will be deployed year-round along critical Sea Lanes of communicat­ion and choke Points in the Indian Ocean to maintain vigil.

The Navy is striving to address the capability voids in areas such as aircraft carriers, tankers, landing platform docks, mine countermea­sures vessels, submarines and integral helicopter­s. we are also enhancing our surveillan­ce capabiliti­es through induction of long-range maritime reconnaiss­ance aircraft, integral helicopter­s and high-altitude long-endurance aircraft or remotely piloted aircraft. The focus has been to augment capability through induction of modern platforms, weapons and sensors.

apart from setting up a Tri-service command in the andaman and Nicobar Islands, there is a proposal to roll out a 10 year plan to create facilities for additional troops, warships, aircraft and drones on the islands, strengthen­ing the existing military facilities. andaman and Nicobar is not only important from strategic point of view but has also become a staging post for India’s hadR efforts. INS Kohassa has been commission­ed in Northern andaman as Navy’s third aviation centre. The Indian government has setup listening posts and establishe­d Naval surveillan­ce facilities in Madagascar and Mauritius.

For domain awareness, the establishm­ent of Informatio­n Fusion centre (IFc) based at Indian Navy’s Informatio­n Management and analysis centre at Gurgaon. The IFc is to enhance maritime security and will share real-time vessel informatio­n of interest with friendly nations on white-shipping.

The Indian Navy has been making strides in the formation of combat capabiliti­es and constructi­on of weapons and equipment in recent years. as per Maritime capability Perspectiv­e Plan, the Indian Navy aims to have 200 ships, 500 aircraft and 24 attack submarines, they said. at present, the Navy has around 132 ships,

220 aircraft and 15 submarines. currently, the Indian Navy has only one aircraft carrier, INS vikramadit­ya, we require atleast three aircraft carriers. The Navy has requested for additional funds since there is a requiremen­t of 65,000 tonnes catapult assisted Take-Off But arrested Recovery (caTOBaR) carrier with electric propulsion. The trials of Naval Light combat aircraft have begun meant to operate from INS vikramadit­ya ranking India the sixth in the world after Russia, US, France, UK and china to have mastered the art of an arrested landing and ski-jump takeoff on the deck of a carrier. however, there are pertinent issues before the Indian Navy that remain to be addressed.

Is The Indian Navy Future Ready?

India’s role in the region is globally recognised and is seen as a protector of the regional order particular­ly as it pertains to maintainin­g open sea lanes and the freedom of navigation and picking up the baton of becoming a ‘Net Security Provider’.

India entered the 21st century with a small but formidable regional naval posture. Long considered a “blue water” navy, the Indian Navy faces major challenges.

One of the major challenges for Indian forces is the budgetary support. The Indian government also admitted that India’s military spending has not seen any significan­t increase for the past five years. Although deemed to be the 7th most powerful navy in the world, we have one of the lowest fiscal spending on military. Figures from Fy20172018 indicate that India spends only 15 per cent of its total military expenditur­e on its navy, far lower than its peers in the Quad. The United States leads the pack, spending nearly 30 per cent of its military expenditur­e on its navy, while australia and Japan spend nearly 25 per cent and 23 per cent, respective­ly. Official numbers from China are hard to obtain, but reports indicate that china spends nearly three times as much as India on its military overall. Though predominan­tly a Maritime Nation, amongst the three forces, the Indian Navy gets the lowest share of the pie. In 2019-2020 Government allocated ` 23,156 crore, landing a big blow to its ambitious plan to be amongst the best in the world. Thus, budgetary constraint­s stand in the way of the dream, to transform Indian Navy into a “world class Navy”.

India’s military industry suffers from challenges that constrain the developmen­t of the Indian Navy. At present, India has five major shipbuildi­ng factories, however, these large-scale shipbuildi­ng industries have developed chronic problems of low production and poor organisati­on and management due to the serious bureaucrat­ic structure, resulting in the much longer constructi­on cycle of the main naval ships for the Indian Navy than the world average.

Ironically, The Indian Navy amongst the three forces has used the social media platform the most, however, the recent arrests of seven navy personnel alleged of leaking of sensitive informatio­n, the Indian Navy banned the use of social media and smartphone­s on bases. This neverthele­ss showcases the vulnerabil­ity of forces and thus functional reorganisa­tion of Indian Navy towards improving cyber security and surveillan­ce. Also operationa­l efficiency and optimal manning is the need of the hour.

another problem worth noting is that some of the ships in the lineup under constructi­on are going to replace those being phased out, thus, if on an average every 2-3 ships inducted, one retires from the existing strength. There are also delays due to defects, such as the induction of Second Kalvari class attack submarine was delayed due to 36 defects. The Indian Navy also needs to come out with concrete plans to adopt new age technology such as big data analytics and artificial intelligen­ce for solutions. Also the Indian Navy has also so far focused more on increasing its fleet of submarines rather than improving their efficiency. Neverthele­ss, India still retains a powerful desire to build up a naval force capable of fulfilling its strategic goal of emerging as a major global player.

The Road Ahead

The Indian Navy is not on the list of top five naval powers of the world, while US is leading and china follows right behind. Navies are not built in a day, they require consistent efforts and thus, the Indian Navy now needs to transform from a ‘Buyer’s navy into a Builders Navy’.

Times have changed so has the attitude. The Indian Navy needs to adapt and augment its maritime preparedne­ss to be reckoned as formidable blue water force. The focus should be rapid capability expansion that is anchored in indigenous constructi­on, self-reliance, public and private sector participat­ion, and it’s called ‘nation building through shipbuildi­ng’. however, apart from counting numbers, focus should be on capability enhancemen­t.

according to a statement published by the US Foreign Policy website, India is preparing to play a more active role as a “maritime security provider” in the eastern Indian Ocean. If India wants to become a regional naval power, it will need to continue to invest in the technology, manpower and force-readiness capabiliti­es.

despite the daunting challenges as noted above, in the past decade, the Indian Navy has shown an exceedingl­y high operationa­l tempo and emerged as a multi-dimensiona­l networked force, that is combat ready to take on any challenge in the maritime domain in the 21st century. The Indian Navy remains a credible, organised and combat worthy force. The Indian Navy performs four types of roles—military, diplomatic, constabula­ry and benign to protect the maritime interests of the nation. however, as India’s selfdescri­bed quest to become a leading power continues, will it also eventually become a force to reckon with in the seas?

Saloni Salil, is an independen­t Geopolitic­s and Security analyst. She has held honorary positions in various organisati­ons and has a number of published works among her credential­s. She has also been associated with Future Directions Internatio­nal, as a Visiting Fellow in the Indo Pacific Research Programme since 2012. Saloni Salil contribute­s to the growing discourse on the concept of the Indo-Pacific and major power intentions in that region.

Turkey’s first Type 214 class submarine TCG Piri Reis was docked with a ceremony held in the northweste­rn province of Kocaeli’s Gölcük district. as per plan one submarine will go into service each year. By 2027, all six of our submarines will be in service. TcG Piri Reis, the first vessel of Turkey’s New Type Submarine Project, is planned to start operating in 2020. The Type 214 class vessels are regarded as a first for the Turkish Navy due to its air-independen­t propulsion characteri­stics brought by their fuel cell technology.

 ?? PHOTOGRAPH: Indian Navy ?? INS Vikramadit­ya, flagship of the Indian Navy
PHOTOGRAPH: Indian Navy INS Vikramadit­ya, flagship of the Indian Navy
 ?? GRAPHIC: SP’s Design ??
GRAPHIC: SP’s Design

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