India displays maritime might

New Delhi – Dramatic drone footage showing Indian commandos hunting pirates after an attack in the Arabian Sea, illustrates New Delhi’s “significant” expansion of a muscular maritime force reflecting global ambitions, analysts say.

The commandos, deployed this month from an Indian-built warship after an attempted hijacking of a merchant bulk carrier, are part of a major increase of naval forces in seas where rival neighbour China has already long expanded its reach.

“It’s significant given the geopolitical context” and the aggressive “use of naval assets”, said Uday Bhaskar, head of the New Delhi-based Society for Policy Studies think-tank.

In recent years, Beijing has negotiated infrastructure deals with countries around the Indian Ocean as part of its Belt and Road Initiative, including Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Bangladesh and Djibouti, where it opened its first overseas military base in 2017, raising concerns among Indian officials.

Now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expected to be re-elected later this year, is looking to raise the global heft of India, the world’s fifth-largest economy, which last year displaced China as the most populous country.

“As India continues to rise in the international great power hierarchy, it envisions to project itself as a leading and responsible power,” said Don McLain Gill of De La Salle University in the Philippines.

Its naval deployment is part of its “desire to play a larger and more proactive role as a responsible security and development partner”, Gill told AFP.

Indian combat operations against pirates are not new.

The navy has been deployed continuously off Somalia since 2008 as piracy surged, bombarding and sinking pirate “mother ships”, ranging from just off India’s coast to the Gulf of Aden, boarding boats by helicopter and capturing dozens of gunmen.

But the navy’s deployment in December of a far larger force – including three guided-missile destroyers and P-8I reconnaissance aircraft to “maintain a deterrent presence” after a string of shipping attacks – marks a rapid ramping up of forces.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh – speaking at the launch of India’s latest own-built warship – vowed shipping would be protected “from the sea to the heights of the sky”. –