50 Navy vessels in sea lanes

With the growing presence of the Chinese Navy in and around the Indian Ocean region and beyond, the Indian Navy said on Wednesday that about 50 Indian Navy vessels are currently deployed in sealanes, including in areas of India’s maritime interest and in anti- piracy operations.

The Indian Navy has mission based deployments from the Persian Gulf to the Malacca Straits and from northern Bay of Bengal to the east coast of Africa and southern Indian ocean.

“# MissionBasedDeploy ments From Persian Gulf to Malacca Straits & from Northern Bay of Bengal to Southern Indian Ocean to East coast of Africa @ indiannavy with 50 ships on vigil 24X7 keep our Area of Responsibility ( AOR) safe. @ indiannavy Anytime, Anywhere Everytime @ nsitharaman,” the Indian Navy spokesperson tweeted.

These are also the areas that have some of the vital Sea Lanes of Communication ( SLOCs), which are of strategic interest to India.

Last year, Indian Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba had said that Indian Navy was gradually increasing its footprint in the IOR and even beyond in the Andaman seas, the Malacca Strait, Gulf of Oman, Persian Gulf, North Arabia and Sunda and Lumbok.

“In short, our ships and aircraft are deployed from the Gulf of Aden to the Western Pacific on an almost 24x7 basis,” he had said. China, too, has deployed its ships in the Indian Ocean to carry out anti- piracy operations. It has a naval base in Djibouti and is building the Gwadar port in Pakistan, strategically situated at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.