By Group Captain Praveer Purohit (retd)
“A good Navy is not a provocation to war. It is the surest guarantee of peace.” — Theodore Roosevelt
The then Royal Indian Navy celebrated Navy Day for the first time on 21 October 1944. Since 1972, the Indian Navy (IN) has celebrated December 4 as Navy Day. The day was chosen to commemorate the audacious and successful attack by IN missile boats on Karachi harbour in the 1971 Indo-Pak war as part of Operation Trident. The 1971 war saw the full-fledged participation of the Indian Navy in combat for the first time since independence. It was an unfortunate and short-sighted government decision that prevented IN from showing its might in the 1965 war. The actions of IN on both the western and eastern seaboard in 1971 made the world take notice of our naval prowess. Over the many decades since then, IN has grown in strength, both qualitatively and quantitatively. It is to the credit of the visionary naval leadership of the past who steadfastly led IN to become a capable and impactful force, often against many odds.
“History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul,” said John Dalberg-Acton, the great historian and philosopher. Sadly, in the Indian context, our maritime history was given short shrift, despite a glorious past dating back to 3000 BCE. Substantial maritime activity has been recorded in the Vedic age and the era of Nandas, Mauryas, Ashoka, Guptas, Satavahanas, Cheras, Cholas, Pandyas, Zamorins and Marathas. Many of these kingdoms were backed by powerful navies. The defeat of the Marathas ended our glorious maritime and sea-faring abilities. It would take almost two centuries later for India to even think of itself as a ‘maritime nation.’ However, the importance of the maritime sphere for trade and security was not lost on some, like Pandit Nehru and KM Panikkar, who advocated for a strong navy. The group of industrialists who came up with the Bombay Plan in 1944 also proposed a strong navy. However, the Pakistani invasion of Kashmir immediately after independence had a deleterious effect of shifting our attention and energies to the continental sphere at the cost of the maritime sphere. Even the fact that we are the only nation after which an ocean is named did little to arouse our maritime consciousness. No wonder the Indian Navy was never considered a major instrument in our strategic calculus till the 1971 war.
Indian naval power declined and went into oblivion when foreign powers ie European, came and established control over the seas and trade routes into India, especially from the 18th century onwards. Despite brave and sustained attempts by the Indian Navy to resurrect our maritime culture and overcome ‘maritime blindness,’ the nation and its strategic community largely remained continental-focused. Call it a twist of fate or an irony, but it was a foreign power ie China, that somewhat resurrected maritime consciousness within the strategic community in India as the increasing Chinese naval might, capability and maritime prowess became evident. In 1999, there was not a single visit by ships of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) to ports in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). These have now touched around two dozen every year. While port visits by naval ships are by themselves benign, PLAN activities in IOR are tailored to further their strategic interests, not all of which are benign. The IOR now witnesses approximately 1700 Chinese ships of all kinds in a month. This increased Chinese footprint in the IOR includes PLAN warships, fishing vessels, survey ships and intelligence-gathering vessels. Akin to how they behave in the South China Sea (SCS), the PLAN warships have exhibited their behavioural trait of being aggressive, even in the Indian Ocean. Satellite tracking ships of China have been frequently operating in the IOR. Despite the COVID pandemic, in 2020-21, their average deployment was 82 days. On an average, about 240 Chinese fishing vessels are present in IOR at any given time. Worryingly, the Chinese maritime militia is also active in the IOR.
China has made no bones about its desire to be able to project power both in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Situated in a crowded geography and dependent upon the rest of the world for energy, commodities, and raw materials, China rightly assessed its vulnerability in the maritime domain. It, therefore, consciously shifted its military priorities from the continental to the maritime domain. This shift was exemplified by a focused upgradation of PLAN’s capabilities. From a 277-ship navy in 2010, PLAN is now numerically the largest navy in the world, with over 370 ships and submarines, including more than 140 major surface warships. This does not include the 60 Houbei class (Type-022) missile boats. The Pentagon estimates that PLAN will have 395 vessels by 2025 and 435 by 2030. The present submarine force level is 60, including 12 nuclear-powered ones. This is expected to reach 65 by 2025 and 80 by 2035. The Chinese are also making attempts to fit the YJ-18 Land Attack Cruise Missile (LACM) into commercial shipping containers for covert employment aboard merchant ships. Their construction of larger aircraft carriers is underway and in full swing, enabling PLAN to operate a carrier task force in IOR in the near future. Aiding the PLAN deployments will be their overseas base in Djibouti and ports such as Hambantota (Sri Lanka), Kyaukpyu (Myanmar), Lamu (Kenya), Gwadar (Pakistan) and Ream (Cambodia).
To its credit, the Indian Navy has been alive to the growing Chinese naval presence in IOR. IN’s expansion plans have been impressive on paper but have suffered from factors largely beyond its control, such as inadequate funding, delays in deliveries of ships by the public sector shipyards, and long procurement procedures. Comprising 132 warships at present, IN is expected to reach a force level of 155 to 160 warships by 2030 and aims to reach 175 warships by 2035. Naval aviation is a mix of a few modern platforms, such as P-8 I and MH-60R and many obsolescent ones, such as Sea King, Mig 29K, Chetak and Ka-31. Air power at sea requires a boost making timely induction of fighter aircraft, additional multi-role helicopters and a larger aircraft carrier an inescapable necessity. The absence of decision-making, in the case of the P-75 I submarine project, may lead to a likely depletion in the submarine fleet by 2030 and is a matter of concern.
Notwithstanding the ‘rough seas’ it often encounters in its growth, our Navy has been a significant facilitator and diplomatic actor in furthering our national interests as part of the Act East policy, Security And Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) and Quad. IN’s international engagements and exercises have significantly enhanced in the last few years. These have nurtured better interoperability, understanding and trust with friendly Navies, besides giving a clear message of India upholding the principles of freedom of navigation in international waters. Recently, IN hosted the maiden edition of Maritime Heads for Active Security And Growth for all in the Region (MAHASAGAR), wherein 11 Indian Ocean littorals participated. IN-led initiatives such as the Goa Maritime Conclave (GMC) sought to harmonise and collaborate capacities and capabilities in the IOR while the Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue (IPRD) engaged at a strategic level, addressing ‘holistic’ maritime security issues across the Indo-Pacific. The Indian Navy Mobile Training Team has trained personnel of the National Coast Guard of Mauritius, and the Malagasy Armed Forces, amongst others. Internally, IN has taken laudable steps, such as inducting women aircrew and appointing the first woman officer to command a ship. Its initiative to institutionalise a 360-degree appraisal system is a ‘first’ among the three services.
For long, the IOR was thought to be free of great power rivalry. The rise of China and its navy has altered this belief. For China, the Indo-Pacific is crucial in becoming a superpower. Within the Indo-Pacific, the Indian Ocean will play a central role in determining China’s place. It has embarked upon a systematic strategy to alter the balance of power in its favour. If successful, it will be at the cost of India. The maritime domain is India’s gateway to power projection and prosperity. A secure and stable Indo-Pacific is central to India’s security environment. Ensuring this requires a much larger, stronger, and better-funded navy. Equally important, Indians must elevate the maritime domain and IN more prominently in their security consciousness. Meanwhile, here’s wishing our men and women in whites and their families a Happy Navy Day!
The writer is a former IAF officer, a highly experienced pilot, and regularly contributes Op-Eds, commentaries, articles, book reviews and papers to various journals/ publications. He has served with the Indian Navy and was among the handful of IAF pilots to achieve the Deck Landing Qualification on IN warships.
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