Undersea cables vulnerable to disruption — Why India needs seabed warfare capabilities

Undersea cables are part of the critical information infrastructure, requiring protection, so the country must proactively develop seabed warfare strategies, drawing lessons from the French and Royal Navy, while also supporting international cooperative frameworks such as Singapore’s Guidance for underwater infrastructure defence exchange, Singh said at the Advancing Underwater Domain Awareness Framework conference organised by the Maritime Research Center (MRC), Pune, and the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), New Delhi.

Highlighting the growing vulnerability of India’s subsea networks, Singh said undersea cables are already 80 to 90% utilised, with demand continuously rising and given this high utilisation, even a single severed cable can cause severe, widespread disruption,” Singh said.

He expressed concern that the concentration of entry and exit routes through vulnerable choke points, coupled with extensive shallow waters, creates complex operational challenges for sonar and mine warfare in the Indian Ocean region.

Vice Admiral Anil Jaggi, Commandant of the National Defence Academy, flagged emerging security challenges in the Indian Ocean Region. Jaggi pointed to increasing extra-regional activity, particularly by China.

He said China operates approximately 64 ocean-surveying vessels for seabed, hydrographic and oceanographic data collection. Chinese-origin autonomous underwater vehicles and gliders have been recovered in Indonesia and the Philippines, near strategic sea lanes and choke points, he said.

Dr (Cdr) Arnab Das, Founder, MRC, said India’s UDA framework should adopt a regional approach, involving all relevant stakeholders, while accelerating capacity and capability building, localised research and development and innovation.