Maritime Stocktaking
Dec. 3, 2022

Context

  • As India celebrates the Navy Day on December 4, the article highlights the need to focus on maritime security and building a strong navy to meet India’s global aspirations.
  • The Indian Navy Day is being celebrated to commemorate the Indian Navy’s counter-attack in Operation Trident during the Indo-Pakistan war in 1971.

Indian Naval feats in the past

  • The navy of 10th century South Indian Emperor Rajendra Chola vanquished the Sumatra-based Sri Vijaya to establish Chola power across present-day Malaysia and Indonesia.
  • The Zamorins of Kozhikode waged a 90-year-long naval campaign led by the captains of the Kunjali Marakkar clan to eject the Portuguese from Malabar.
  • The 17th century Maratha Konkan fleet actively attacked the British, Dutch and Portuguese, scoring many victories.
  • In 1736, Bombay’s Lovji Nusserwanji Wadia started Wadia master shipbuilders constructing merchantmen and warships for the British.
  • In 1941, Seth Walchand Hirachand resurrected Indian shipbuilding by founding Scindia Shipyard Ltd. in Visakhapatnam and built first modern, Indian-built merchant vessel, MV Jalusha in 1948.
    • It was later nationalized in 1961 and renamed as Hindustan Shipyard Limited and brought under the Ministry of Shipping.
    • In 2010, Ministry of Defence took it under its control.

Capacity building of Indian navy after independence

  • INS Nilgiri: Mazagon Docks delivered India’s first warship in 1972. According to the Defence Ministry website, the Indian Navy’s present force level is of about 150 ships and submarines.
  • INS Arihant: The Indian Navy has developed the nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine INS Arihant in 2016.
  • INS Vikrant: India launched its largest indigenously built warship, which is an aircraft carrier capable of operating the Russian MiG-29K.
  • INS Visakhapatnam: It is a stealth guided-missile destroyer ship inducted in the Indian Navy in 2021.
  • INS Surat and Udaygiri: Indian Navy in 2022 launched two frontline warships, INS Surat - a Project 15B Destroyer, and INS Udaygiri - a Project 17A Frigate.
    • The Project 15B class of ships are the next-generation stealth-guided missile destroyers of the Indian Navy.
    • Under the P17A programme, various novel concepts and technologies have been adopted for the first time in indigenous warship design and construction in this project.
  • Marine Commandos (MARCOS): This special force unit of the Indian Navy, trained to conduct amphibious warfare, counter-terrorism, etc. were the first to respond to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

Major operations of Indian Navy

  • Operation Trident: It was a counter-attack by the Indian Navy on the Karachi harbour during the Indo-Pakistan war in 1971.
    • In this operation, India used anti-ship missiles (such as INS Veer) for the first time during this operation and destroyed the Pakistani destroyer ship PNS Khaibar.
  • Op Python: It was launched after Op Trident in which Karachi port was attacked during Indo- Pak war 1971.
  • Op Cactus: It was conducted to pacify the situation in Maldives and Sri Lanka in 1988. INS Godavari and INS Betwa were involved in the operation at the Sri Lankan coast.
  • Op Talwar: It was planned during Kargil war in 1999 when Indian Navy prepared a blockade for the Pakistani boats near the Karachi port to stop the supply of oil and fuel.
    • Indian Navy also threatened to cut the trade routes of the Pakistan and started patrolling in the Arabian Sea.

Need for India to strengthen maritime security

  • For national security and territorial integrity: India is predominantly peninsular in nature with a coastline of 7,517 km and 1,197 islands which are important from aspect of national security.
    • Preventing sea-based threats such as piracy, illegal immigration, weapon smuggling, terrorist attacks etc. are critical to India’s territorial integrity.
  • Securing Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOCs): India’s exports and imports take place mostly across the shipping lanes of the Indian Ocean. Therefore, securing SLOCs is critical for smooth and constant trade.
  • Hostile neighbourhood: China’s aggressive posturing and growing military presence in the Indian Ocean as depicted by the military base at Djibouti, the satellite and missile tracking ship, Yuan Wang 5 in Hambantota Port, Sri Lanka etc., stresses upon the security imperative of Indian navy.
  • Regional Uncertainty: The conflicts in countries such as in Somalia, Yemen, Iran, and other countries which lie in Indian Ocean region (IOR) makes maritime security more significant.

Issues with Indian navy’s indigenization

  • Imported items: Many of the ship’s major systems, including gas-turbine engines, guns, missiles and radars, are still imported.
    • Also, various aviation-related facilities such as workshops, aircraft lifts, arrester-wires and landing-aids, vital for flying operations are of foreign origin.
  • Slow pace of indigenization: New, indigenously designed, destroyers and stealth frigates, fielding long-range sensors and heavily armed with missiles, guns and anti-submarine weapons are being delivered at a slow but steady pace by domestic shipyards.

Some efforts taken to boost Indian navy

  • Indian Navy Indigenization Plan (INIP) 2015-2030: It aims to enable indigenous development of equipment and system e.g., machinery, electrical, weapon spares etc. over the next 15 years.
  • Naval Aviation Indigenization Roadmap (NAIR) 2022-2027: The objective of this roadmap is to indigenize more than 550 components, including all fast-moving aircraft mandatory spares and high-cost indigenous repairs.
    • It also seeks tap the expertise of indigenous aviation elements viz. Aero Cluster Labs, ISRO, HAL, Pawan Hans, IAF, Academia and Industry.
  • Naval Innovation and Indigenization Organisation (NIIO): It was launched in August 2020 to provide a flexible and accessible interface for academia and industry with Indian Navy capability development apparatus.

What’s more to be done?

  • Boosting Navy-industry relationship: It needs to be founded more on partnership rather than a mere customer-supplier relationship.
    • This will help accommodate evolutionary designs of state-of-the-art equipment to meet the rising aspirations of the naval staff
    • This will help both parties for sharing the risks of development as well as the benefits of new technology with reduced costs.

Conclusion

  • The need is to cut down on defence imports and boost domestic manufacturing has gained further urgency due to ongoing Russian war in Ukraine and the large-scale dependency of Indian military on Russian arms and equipment.
  • Given India’s political leadership’s regional and global aspirations, the indigenization can make significant contribution to outshine India as a regional “net security provider”.