BEYOND A PREFERRED SECURITY PARTNER: INDIAN NAVY’S DIPLOMATIC OUTREACH
As the Indian Navy celebrates 50 years since the successful operations against
Pakistan, which contributed to the establishment of Bangladesh, it is a good time to reflect on how it has evolved into the preferred security partner in the maritime neighbourhood. It is equally important to understand how the
Navy continues to complement the nation’s diplomatic efforts as India emerges as a major power on the global stage.
Ever since the Tiranga was first hoisted on an Indian Naval warship 75 years ago, the Navy has proudly showcased the very best of India across the world. In the early days, this was limited to friendly port visits, basic exercises at sea and joint training with personnel from friendly foreign countries. Since the dawn of the 21st century, however, the diplomatic outreach of the Indian Navy has evolved, in step with the changing contours of the nation’s foreign policy imperatives.
FIGHTING FIT
The Navy now engages in full spectrum cooperation with friends and partners, across the Indo-pacific and beyond. Bilateral and multilateral exercises are conducted alongside leading navies of the world to further develop our preparedness for coordinating responses across a wide range of complex military scenarios. The Malabar (with Australia, Japan & US), Indra (with Russia) and Varuna (with France) series of exercises, in particular, have captured significant global attention.
In all these exercises, ships, submarines, aircraft and special forces operate together for significant periods across the Indian Ocean, Western Pacific, as well as the waters off Europe. In each edition, these engagements have evolved in both scale and scope, underscoring the growing interoperability and coordination, which could be harnessed when facing common threats and challenges.
These exercises are complemented by a significant number of professional interactions such as staff talks, seminars & conclaves, interactions between specialists, table-top war games, and niche training
capsules.
All international engagements are guided by two principles – firstly, to enhance capability of partners, both individual and collective; and secondly, to deliver sustainable and effective competencies, with a high degree of local ownership.
In addition, the Navy has established the International Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) to establish a more transparent, real-time situational picture of the maritime security environment of the region while providing timely actionable inputs to partner nations on emerging and ongoing situations.
These initiatives underscore the nation’s commitment to our strategic partners and form an important component of the whole of government diplomatic effort to meaningfully engage with them in multiple domains.
HUMANITARIAN ROLE
Similarly, the Navy also forms an integral part of the nation’s pledge to be a reliable diplomatic partner in any situation. The Indian Navy has always gone out of its way to provide relief and aid to regions struck by disaster in the maritime neighbourhood.
In recent years, the Navy has established it’s capability to be the first responder to emerging crises and provide a high level of aid and support to the affected local populace.
This commitment to human security continued through the ongoing pandemic. Through Operation Samudra Setu, the Navy helped repatriate thousands of our countrymen from countries where they could not be given due medical coverage. The Navy also brought in essential medical aid including large-scale deliveries of oxygen and medicines during the devastating second wave of Covid, sent to India from friendly countries.
Immediately after this wave was behind us, the Navy seamlessly integrated with the nation’s wider Medicine Diplomacy effort and redeployed with medical aid to other countries across South and South East Asia, under Mission SAGAR.
INTERNATIONAL TRAINEES
Training has long been a pillar of the Navy’s diplomatic efforts. Each year, over a thousand international trainees undergo courses in India alongside their Indian counterparts in naval establishments across the country.
Covering basic courses as well as midto senior-level Profession Military Education, these courses enable the Navy to share its professional expertise and benefit from learning the alternative views and practices of other nations.
This enables a continuous process of evolution in the way the Indian Navy, as well as our partners, plans and operates. In this effort, the Navy continues to be guided by the national vision of ‘inclusive growth and development’ for all nations in the region.
These multi-pronged efforts have, over the years, allowed the Indian Navy to establish itself as a trusted, respected and reliable ‘agent of good’ in India’s extended maritime neighbourhood. Even as the Navy can take pride in its position as the preferred security partner in the region, we remain cognisant of the fact that a lot more still needs to be done.
The Navy has always gone out of its way to provide relief and aid to regions struck by disaster in the maritime neighbourhood.
ENSURING MARITIME SECURITY
The waterways of the Indo Pacific region have emerged as the veritable arteries of the globalized world. The huge potential of transcontinental trade, flow of energy, raw material and food over the oceans has made this route a lifeline for the global economy and economic growth in our region.
Given this reality, it is ever more imperative to ensure the safety and security of legal maritime activity. Unfortunately, there are some countries in the region which either do not respect international law, or seek to sow instability and conflict to promote their self-serving political agendas. These nations are emerging as a clear and present danger to future development and prosperity, with matters likely to get worse if and when their agendas align.
The Navy has, therefore, further deepened its commitment to regional maritime security and protecting the ‘freedom of the seas’. The Navy realises that the surest way to achieve this is to strengthen the collective maritime competence of responsible actors across the region. It has accordingly, expanded efforts bilaterally, as well as through multilateral constructs, to deliver this outcome. Across the region, the Navy is engaged in efforts to bolster capacities and capabilities as requested by local governments.
A prominent example is the recent news of a Maldivian Pilot taking to the skies in a Dornier aircraft. This milestone, facilitated by Indian Navy, has heralded a new chapter in Male’s national security capability. It is pertinent to note that initiatives like these are deeply interwoven with the national policies of Act East and Neighbourhood First. Concurrently, the Indian Navy is taking part in several efforts, through platforms like the Indian Ocean
Naval Symposium, in order to streamline how newly acquired capacities in the region may be used in a coordinated manner so as to optimise collective security.
Former US President Theodore Roosevelt once stated that “a good Navy is not a provocation to war, it is the surest guaranty of peace”. The Indian Navy has embraced these wise words and taken them a step further. It may even be appropriate to say that in the present Indian context - “a good Navy, complemented by a capable and cohesive maritime neighbourhood, is the surest guaranty of global peace and prosperity”.
(The contents of this article are the personal views of the author and do not represent official position of the Indian Navy or the Government of India)
[The author is a serving Surface Warfare specialist officer of the Indian Navy, presently appointed as Directing Staff at the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. An avid reader, he keenly follows developments in international affairs and military technology.]