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Looking east, Indian naval power grows in the Arabian Sea
Dated: 24th Jan04
India signed a $1.5 billion deal with Russia on Tuesday to buy a refurbished aircraft carrier with MiG-29 attack jets, making it the only Asian state with that kind of naval firepower. It underlined New Delhi’s plans to be the dominant power in an oceanic region that includes the Arabian Sea and the vital oil routes to the Far East and China, India’s longtime adversary.
And just to emphasize the importance of the Arabian Sea in New Delhi’s strategic thinking, the expanding Indian Navy held joint maneuvers there with the Americans in October. The Malabar 2003 exercises were the largest such drills ever conducted by the two navies.
With the Americans courting Hindu-majority India in the war against Islamic fundamentalism, the two countries’ navies have been alternating patrols in the pirate-infested Strait of Malacca, a vital shipping lane between Malaysia and Indonesia, to prevent terrorist attacks.
India has also been strengthening its military and intelligence ties to Israel and any day now is expected to sign a $1.1 billion contract for three Phalcon early warning radar aircraft built by state-run Israel Aircraft Industries. Israel is now one of India’s key arms suppliers, second only to Russia. The Phalcons, which are being sold to New Delhi with US approval, will greatly enhance India’s defensive and offensive capabilities.
The links between India and Israel are developing at such a pace that the prospect of a military alliance between the two, similar to Israel’s 1996 agreement with Turkey, the other non-Arab military power in the eastern Mediterranean, looks increasingly likely. That could result in the deployment of Israel’s German-built Dolphin submarines, reportedly armed with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, in the Arabian Sea/Indian Ocean, greatly extending Israel’s strategic strike capabilities against Iran.
“As Israel has expressed concerns in the face of Pakistani-led nuclear proliferation into its neighborhood and mooted a desire to hide its nuclear arsenal from the prying eyes of the Americans, it is only a question of time before that nation approaches India with a proposal to deploy (nuclear-armed) submarines in the Indian Ocean,†according to analyst Ramtanu Maitra.
Indian domination of the Arabian Sea, with US support and possibly Israeli participation, is likely to result from the planned expansion of India’s naval forces and the wider strategic vision of becoming a major global player that is now New Delhi’s objective.
The acquisition of the Russian aircraft carrier, the Soviet-era Admiral Gorshkov, is a pivotal part of this grand strategic vision, recently enunciated as a 20-year program to make India “a world power with influence spreading across the India Ocean, the Arabian Gulf and the four corners of Asia.†On Nov. 1, 2003, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee told a Combined Commanders Conference in New Delhi attended by all of India’s top armed forces chiefs that they had to shed their sub-regional mindsets and develop strategies that extend beyond South Asia.
Admiral Madhavendra Singh, India’s naval commander, said on Oct. 14: “Fulfilling India’s dream of having a full-fledged blue-water navy would need at least three aircraft carriers, 20 more frigates, 20 more destroyers with helicopters, and large numbers of missile corvettes and anti-submarine corvettes.â€
According to US analysts, India’s naval program entails a budget of $20 billion for the carriers, advanced submarines, long-range maritime patrol aircraft which are essential for killing submarines, and command, control, communication and intelligence systems for state-of-the-art battle management. Indian planners also stress the need for submarine-launched nuclear missile capability. This is primarily to counter a more modest naval buildup by Pakistan’s navy, but the capability to strike at China remains the key strategic objective.
The Indian Navy currently comprises some 140 warships, including 14 submarines, but many are aging and lack sophisticated weapons and electronic warfare systems. Among planned acquisitions are six French Scorpene SSK-class submarines. The 44,570-ton Admiral Gorshkov is currently undergoing an extensive refit that includes extending its flight deck to accommodate advanced strike aircraft. It is scheduled for delivery in 2008, and will replace INS Viraat, a smaller, less powerful aircraft carrier that was formerly the British Navy’s HMS Hermes which saw action in the 1982 Falklands War.
The Indians may arm the 273-meter Gorshkov with Israeli-made Barak air-defense missiles. New Delhi is also mulling the purchase of nuclear-capable Tupolov Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bombers and Akula-class nuclear submarines from Russia. Moscow is prepared to lease India two Tu-22s as maritime patrol aircraft as well as sell cruise missiles in a package worth $3 billion. India wants to build its own aircraft carriers in less than a decade, but analysts believe it will take much longer than that.
Maitra noted that India’s naval ambitions, including carrier battle groups similar to those operated by the Americans, “point to the fact that the Indian Navy is becoming much larger than its immediate defense needs dictate, and clearly suggest that it is in the process of securing the next outer ring of security and positioning itself to play a role in the future to provide security to its areas of economic interest in Asia, and perhaps in Africa.
“Given the crucial importance of the Bay of Bengal for the security of almost half of Asia, and the Arabian Sea for its importance of oil supplies to enhance global prosperity, India’s security concerns will certainly remain pinned on the Indian Ocean as it grows more powerful in the years ahead.â€
This strategy involved close military ties with the United States, and these have improved rapidly since Sept. 11, 2001, although they are still at a nascent stage. Although US and Indian expectations regarding the Indian Ocean and Asian security often diverge, they share concerns about China, the emerging titan in the east whose expanding economy is increasingly dependent on oil imports, mostly from the Middle East.
By 2020, the Asia-Pacific region will consume some 38 million barrels of oil a day, with 80 percent of that supplied by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states through the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.
Because of this strategic dependence, the Chinese are conducting their own naval expansion that is largely intended to project power into the South China Sea, the Malacca Strait, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea through which the tanker lanes run. Both India and the US believe that the Chinese should be kept bottled up east of the Malacca Strait. Indeed, India sits astride two strategic chokepoints for global oil supplies  to the west, the Strait of Hormuz at the southern end of the Gulf; to the east, the Strait of Malacca.
The prospect of major-power confrontation in the region’s sealanes is thus increased. Shortly after China became a net importer of oil in 1993, Zhao Nanqi, director of the Chinese Navy’s general staff logistics department, commented: “We can no longer accept the Indian Ocean as an ocean only of the Indians.â€
The Indians and Americans are thus warily watching the construction of a huge port on the Arabian Sea by the Chinese at Gwadar in southern Pakistan near the border with Iran. The port is ostensibly intended as the terminal of a natural gas pipeline running from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan. But Sana Ullah Baloch, a member of Pakistan’s Senate, declared on Jan. 20 that the facility is in fact a naval base designed to give the Chinese Army a foothold at one of the most strategic points in Asia. Pakistan’s navy chief said last year that Beijing was contributing $200 million in grants and loans to assist Pakistan with construction. Baloch maintains the figure is really $3 billion.
The Americans will also be hoping to establish bases in India under the Bush administration’s new blueprint for military expansion and pre-emptive intervention to counter the global terror threat. New Delhi may be uncomfortable with that idea, but US Secretary of State Colin Powell has talked of India’s importance in maintaining security in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean and the need for US support for New Delhi in that regard.
India can be expected to seek greater defense cooperation with the Gulf states, as well as in Southeast Asia and, increasingly, Central Asia and its hydrocarbon wealth and emerging markets. Such military expansion runs parallel to US strategic planning for these regions, including the war against Islamic extremists.
In this regard,Vajpayee inaugurated India’s first permanent foreign military base in Tajikistan on Nov. 13. The air base at Ayni, 10 kilometers northeast of the capital Dushanbe, is equipped to handle combat aircraft and large transports. Other bases in the region are planned as India’s strategic perceptions expand, including the need to protect energy supplies. India, with few energy resources of its own, plans to pipe natural gas from Central Asia. “Our own energy interests have to be looked after by ourselves,†said Defense Ministry spokesman Amitabh Chakraborty. And, for the time being at least, that means the Arabian Sea.
Ed Blanche, a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, has covered Middle Eastern affairs for three decades. He is a regular contributor to THE DAILY STAR
here is the link
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/opinion/24_01_04_c.asp
Dated: 24th Jan04
India signed a $1.5 billion deal with Russia on Tuesday to buy a refurbished aircraft carrier with MiG-29 attack jets, making it the only Asian state with that kind of naval firepower. It underlined New Delhi’s plans to be the dominant power in an oceanic region that includes the Arabian Sea and the vital oil routes to the Far East and China, India’s longtime adversary.
And just to emphasize the importance of the Arabian Sea in New Delhi’s strategic thinking, the expanding Indian Navy held joint maneuvers there with the Americans in October. The Malabar 2003 exercises were the largest such drills ever conducted by the two navies.
With the Americans courting Hindu-majority India in the war against Islamic fundamentalism, the two countries’ navies have been alternating patrols in the pirate-infested Strait of Malacca, a vital shipping lane between Malaysia and Indonesia, to prevent terrorist attacks.
India has also been strengthening its military and intelligence ties to Israel and any day now is expected to sign a $1.1 billion contract for three Phalcon early warning radar aircraft built by state-run Israel Aircraft Industries. Israel is now one of India’s key arms suppliers, second only to Russia. The Phalcons, which are being sold to New Delhi with US approval, will greatly enhance India’s defensive and offensive capabilities.
The links between India and Israel are developing at such a pace that the prospect of a military alliance between the two, similar to Israel’s 1996 agreement with Turkey, the other non-Arab military power in the eastern Mediterranean, looks increasingly likely. That could result in the deployment of Israel’s German-built Dolphin submarines, reportedly armed with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, in the Arabian Sea/Indian Ocean, greatly extending Israel’s strategic strike capabilities against Iran.
“As Israel has expressed concerns in the face of Pakistani-led nuclear proliferation into its neighborhood and mooted a desire to hide its nuclear arsenal from the prying eyes of the Americans, it is only a question of time before that nation approaches India with a proposal to deploy (nuclear-armed) submarines in the Indian Ocean,†according to analyst Ramtanu Maitra.
Indian domination of the Arabian Sea, with US support and possibly Israeli participation, is likely to result from the planned expansion of India’s naval forces and the wider strategic vision of becoming a major global player that is now New Delhi’s objective.
The acquisition of the Russian aircraft carrier, the Soviet-era Admiral Gorshkov, is a pivotal part of this grand strategic vision, recently enunciated as a 20-year program to make India “a world power with influence spreading across the India Ocean, the Arabian Gulf and the four corners of Asia.†On Nov. 1, 2003, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee told a Combined Commanders Conference in New Delhi attended by all of India’s top armed forces chiefs that they had to shed their sub-regional mindsets and develop strategies that extend beyond South Asia.
Admiral Madhavendra Singh, India’s naval commander, said on Oct. 14: “Fulfilling India’s dream of having a full-fledged blue-water navy would need at least three aircraft carriers, 20 more frigates, 20 more destroyers with helicopters, and large numbers of missile corvettes and anti-submarine corvettes.â€
According to US analysts, India’s naval program entails a budget of $20 billion for the carriers, advanced submarines, long-range maritime patrol aircraft which are essential for killing submarines, and command, control, communication and intelligence systems for state-of-the-art battle management. Indian planners also stress the need for submarine-launched nuclear missile capability. This is primarily to counter a more modest naval buildup by Pakistan’s navy, but the capability to strike at China remains the key strategic objective.
The Indian Navy currently comprises some 140 warships, including 14 submarines, but many are aging and lack sophisticated weapons and electronic warfare systems. Among planned acquisitions are six French Scorpene SSK-class submarines. The 44,570-ton Admiral Gorshkov is currently undergoing an extensive refit that includes extending its flight deck to accommodate advanced strike aircraft. It is scheduled for delivery in 2008, and will replace INS Viraat, a smaller, less powerful aircraft carrier that was formerly the British Navy’s HMS Hermes which saw action in the 1982 Falklands War.
The Indians may arm the 273-meter Gorshkov with Israeli-made Barak air-defense missiles. New Delhi is also mulling the purchase of nuclear-capable Tupolov Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bombers and Akula-class nuclear submarines from Russia. Moscow is prepared to lease India two Tu-22s as maritime patrol aircraft as well as sell cruise missiles in a package worth $3 billion. India wants to build its own aircraft carriers in less than a decade, but analysts believe it will take much longer than that.
Maitra noted that India’s naval ambitions, including carrier battle groups similar to those operated by the Americans, “point to the fact that the Indian Navy is becoming much larger than its immediate defense needs dictate, and clearly suggest that it is in the process of securing the next outer ring of security and positioning itself to play a role in the future to provide security to its areas of economic interest in Asia, and perhaps in Africa.
“Given the crucial importance of the Bay of Bengal for the security of almost half of Asia, and the Arabian Sea for its importance of oil supplies to enhance global prosperity, India’s security concerns will certainly remain pinned on the Indian Ocean as it grows more powerful in the years ahead.â€
This strategy involved close military ties with the United States, and these have improved rapidly since Sept. 11, 2001, although they are still at a nascent stage. Although US and Indian expectations regarding the Indian Ocean and Asian security often diverge, they share concerns about China, the emerging titan in the east whose expanding economy is increasingly dependent on oil imports, mostly from the Middle East.
By 2020, the Asia-Pacific region will consume some 38 million barrels of oil a day, with 80 percent of that supplied by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states through the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.
Because of this strategic dependence, the Chinese are conducting their own naval expansion that is largely intended to project power into the South China Sea, the Malacca Strait, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea through which the tanker lanes run. Both India and the US believe that the Chinese should be kept bottled up east of the Malacca Strait. Indeed, India sits astride two strategic chokepoints for global oil supplies  to the west, the Strait of Hormuz at the southern end of the Gulf; to the east, the Strait of Malacca.
The prospect of major-power confrontation in the region’s sealanes is thus increased. Shortly after China became a net importer of oil in 1993, Zhao Nanqi, director of the Chinese Navy’s general staff logistics department, commented: “We can no longer accept the Indian Ocean as an ocean only of the Indians.â€
The Indians and Americans are thus warily watching the construction of a huge port on the Arabian Sea by the Chinese at Gwadar in southern Pakistan near the border with Iran. The port is ostensibly intended as the terminal of a natural gas pipeline running from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan. But Sana Ullah Baloch, a member of Pakistan’s Senate, declared on Jan. 20 that the facility is in fact a naval base designed to give the Chinese Army a foothold at one of the most strategic points in Asia. Pakistan’s navy chief said last year that Beijing was contributing $200 million in grants and loans to assist Pakistan with construction. Baloch maintains the figure is really $3 billion.
The Americans will also be hoping to establish bases in India under the Bush administration’s new blueprint for military expansion and pre-emptive intervention to counter the global terror threat. New Delhi may be uncomfortable with that idea, but US Secretary of State Colin Powell has talked of India’s importance in maintaining security in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean and the need for US support for New Delhi in that regard.
India can be expected to seek greater defense cooperation with the Gulf states, as well as in Southeast Asia and, increasingly, Central Asia and its hydrocarbon wealth and emerging markets. Such military expansion runs parallel to US strategic planning for these regions, including the war against Islamic extremists.
In this regard,Vajpayee inaugurated India’s first permanent foreign military base in Tajikistan on Nov. 13. The air base at Ayni, 10 kilometers northeast of the capital Dushanbe, is equipped to handle combat aircraft and large transports. Other bases in the region are planned as India’s strategic perceptions expand, including the need to protect energy supplies. India, with few energy resources of its own, plans to pipe natural gas from Central Asia. “Our own energy interests have to be looked after by ourselves,†said Defense Ministry spokesman Amitabh Chakraborty. And, for the time being at least, that means the Arabian Sea.
Ed Blanche, a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, has covered Middle Eastern affairs for three decades. He is a regular contributor to THE DAILY STAR
here is the link
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/opinion/24_01_04_c.asp
