Finally,big push for the navy
India is finally shoring up its defence assets with a welcome emphasis on its much neglected Navy. The `50,000 crore allocation for the Navy’s Project 75 (I) to build six lethal submarines gives the right push to the ambition of setting up a true blue Navy with adequate deterrent via a mix of carrier groups and nuclear submarines.
This comes as China expands its naval radii to protect its interests from Africa to Philippines. The push is also intertwined with India’s ‘Look East’ policy, which aims at establishing seamless economic and political ties with ASEAN countries, besides the US, Japan and Australia via Quad. China had realised its navy cannot operate without bases farther from home. It has thus leased Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port, been developing Gwadar in Pakistan—close to Indian waters—while investing in Tanzania, Seychelles and Maldives with an eye on future bases.
India’s outreach via recent naval drills with several Southeast Asian countries, Australia, the US and French navies outline the urgency. The Indian Navy’s collaboration with France is significant. France’s reach from the Horn of Africa to Abu Dhabi, Mauritius and Reunion Islands, provide overarching bases for our Navy to reboot even as India helps develop the Iranian port of Chabahar which is close to Gwadar. France has committed its best carriers and nuclear submarines to the annual Varuna drill with India— which emphasizes the resolve of the two countries to replace flagging US interests in the Gulf. However, much needs to be done.
While INS Vikramaditya has boosted India’s blue water capability, the indigenous carrier Vikrant is about to be delivered on the back of the successful completion of Navy’s Project 15A and B for Kolkata class stealth destroyers and Project 17’s futuristic warships. Project 75(I) to build six nuclear powered attack submarines to supplement Arihant—India’s indigenous nuclear submarine—will go a long way in bolstering India’s sea defence.