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Admiral Noman Bashir, brother of the Pakistani foreign secretary, Salman Bashir, who was in New Delhi to hold talks with India, recently said, The Indian navys current force structure and future expansion plans reflect its hegemonic mindset to further flex its muscles and become a blue water navy.
Yes, India must have blue water navy; but that is not a reflection of its hegemonic mindset to further flex its muscles.... Bashir, despite being the navy chief, displayed a lamentable lack of knowledge and understanding of the naval situation in Asia.
Compared to Pakistans 567 nautical mile Arabian Sea coastline, India has a 4,104 nautical mile coastline with the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Mannar and the Bay of Bengal. That makes Indias coastline, approximately, 7.23 times bigger than Pakistans. India, therefore, cannot afford to have a tiny navy with archaic machines to protect its territorial waters.
The differences in role, operation, tactical doctrine and deployment of these two naval forces need to be analysed carefully. According to Janes World Navies 2009, the Pakistani navys tactical doctrine includes, among other things, aggressive deployment of submarines to destroy Indian navys major surface combatants. In naval parlance, the Pakistani naval doctrine emphasizes fleet-in-being(guerrilla-warfare). Islamabads submarine assets would be a major factor in a combat with the Indian navy as the enemy carrier group would be extremely vulnerable to underwater operations within a limited combat radius. Understandably, therefore, the overall operational task of the Indian navy is daunting. However, Indias self-imposed diplomatic and defensive restraint does not allow its navy to go beyond limited sea-denial capability.
Theoretically, however, the Indian navy has the ability to undertake a two-fold role: sea control and sea denial, say up to 1,500 nautical miles from its operational base. Sea control is essentially about cooperation with littoral and other friendly navies. For sea denial, however, submarine and anti-submarine capabilities would be essential to counter any hostile manoeuvre by non-littoral fighting ships. Being larger and more populous, India has its own share of problems, given the hostile environment. It is imperative that the Indian navy pre-empts hostile guerrillas in sea and secures the shore.
The Indian navys vision of a force architecture centred around 140 to 145 vessels by 2020, of which more than half will be ocean-going and the remainder assigned to coastal duties, makes a lot of sense. The only caveat should be to have more indigenous warships on the naval inventory. With the growing threat of piracy, the rapid modernization of the Chinese navy and Islamabads fleet-in-being acquisitions, it is now time for some restructuring in the Indian navy. A balanced naval force, consisting of missile destroyers, frigates and corvettes, based on at least two aircraft carrier battle groups, supplemented by submarines and aviation assets equipped with long-range, precision-guided weapons capable of anti-ship and land-attack missions, is compulsory.
Admiral Bashir would perhaps be better off managing Pakistans coastline instead of eyeing Indias shoreline.
ABHIJIT BHATTACHARYYA
The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Opinion | An eye on the coast
Yes, India must have blue water navy; but that is not a reflection of its hegemonic mindset to further flex its muscles.... Bashir, despite being the navy chief, displayed a lamentable lack of knowledge and understanding of the naval situation in Asia.
Compared to Pakistans 567 nautical mile Arabian Sea coastline, India has a 4,104 nautical mile coastline with the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Mannar and the Bay of Bengal. That makes Indias coastline, approximately, 7.23 times bigger than Pakistans. India, therefore, cannot afford to have a tiny navy with archaic machines to protect its territorial waters.
The differences in role, operation, tactical doctrine and deployment of these two naval forces need to be analysed carefully. According to Janes World Navies 2009, the Pakistani navys tactical doctrine includes, among other things, aggressive deployment of submarines to destroy Indian navys major surface combatants. In naval parlance, the Pakistani naval doctrine emphasizes fleet-in-being(guerrilla-warfare). Islamabads submarine assets would be a major factor in a combat with the Indian navy as the enemy carrier group would be extremely vulnerable to underwater operations within a limited combat radius. Understandably, therefore, the overall operational task of the Indian navy is daunting. However, Indias self-imposed diplomatic and defensive restraint does not allow its navy to go beyond limited sea-denial capability.
Theoretically, however, the Indian navy has the ability to undertake a two-fold role: sea control and sea denial, say up to 1,500 nautical miles from its operational base. Sea control is essentially about cooperation with littoral and other friendly navies. For sea denial, however, submarine and anti-submarine capabilities would be essential to counter any hostile manoeuvre by non-littoral fighting ships. Being larger and more populous, India has its own share of problems, given the hostile environment. It is imperative that the Indian navy pre-empts hostile guerrillas in sea and secures the shore.
The Indian navys vision of a force architecture centred around 140 to 145 vessels by 2020, of which more than half will be ocean-going and the remainder assigned to coastal duties, makes a lot of sense. The only caveat should be to have more indigenous warships on the naval inventory. With the growing threat of piracy, the rapid modernization of the Chinese navy and Islamabads fleet-in-being acquisitions, it is now time for some restructuring in the Indian navy. A balanced naval force, consisting of missile destroyers, frigates and corvettes, based on at least two aircraft carrier battle groups, supplemented by submarines and aviation assets equipped with long-range, precision-guided weapons capable of anti-ship and land-attack missions, is compulsory.
Admiral Bashir would perhaps be better off managing Pakistans coastline instead of eyeing Indias shoreline.
ABHIJIT BHATTACHARYYA
The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Opinion | An eye on the coast
