Navy steps up Arabian Sea security, surveillance, deploys warships after attacks on merchant vessels

“Aerial surveillance by long-range maritime patrol aircraft and RPAs (remotely piloted aircraft) has been enhanced to have a complete maritime domain awareness,” it said, adding that it is operating in close coordination with the Indian Coast Guard towards effective surveillance of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

#IndianNavy substantially enhances maritime surveillance efforts in Central/ North #ArabianSea & augments force levels

Task Gps for #MaritimeSecurity ops, ready to render assistance in case of any maritime incident.
Aerial Surveillance for complete #MaritimeDomainAwareness

EEZ…

— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) December 31, 2023

As per defence officials, five warships – INS Kochi, INS Mormugao, INS Kolkata and INS Chennai, in addition to a Talwar Class frigate – have been deployed at the Arabian Sea off the Gulf of Aden.

Along with the warships, P8I maritime patrol aircraft, MQ-9B Predator drones and Dornier aircraft are also carrying out enhanced surveillance of the region, the officials added.

“As part of its surveillance efforts, the Navy is involved in active investigation of vessels in the Arabian Sea, including boarding of dhows. However, so far, there has been no requirement to board merchant vessels,” an official told The Indian Express.

The Indian Coast Guard is also carrying out several operations in the area.

“This will continue till confidence is built again and there is a marked reduction of these incidents,” the official said.

A second official told The Indian Express that the law of armed conflict states that in incidents like these, a uniformed force can only act against another uniformed force. The official said that for such grey-zone tactics, it is difficult to attribute a specific event to any particular entity.

“Houthis are non-state actors and proving any action devolved from them is an uphill task. The increased deployment of Naval assets in the Arabian Sea in the wake of these attacks can act as a deterrence against scaling-up of the situation,” the official said.

The Navy’s statement comes in the backdrop of a spate of maritime security incidents on merchant vessels transiting through international shipping lanes in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Central and North Arabian Sea in December.

Earlier this month, there was a piracy incident on a Malta-flagged vessel MV Ruen in the Arabian Sea, at around 700 nautical miles from the Indian coast, where the Navy responded by sending its aircraft and a warship.

On December 23, a Liberian-flagged merchant vessel, MV Chem Pluto, carrying a crew of 22, including 21 Indians, came under drone attack around 220 nautical miles southwest of Porbandar, while it was on its way to New Mangalore.

The attacks, the Navy said, indicated a shift in maritime incidents closer to the Indian EEZ.

A day after the MV Chem Pluto incident, a Gabon-flagged commercial oil tanker, MV Sai Baba, on its way to India with 25 crew members, all of them Indians, also came under drone attack in the southern Red Sea, along with another Norwegian-flagged ship.

No casualties were reported in both the incidents.

Days after the incidents, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had warned that India would “hunt down” the perpetrators, even from the “depths of the sea”, and take strict action against them.

The incidents are among the latest in a series of UAV and missile attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on commercial ships in the Red Sea region, especially those bound for Israel, since the Israel-Hamas war began in October.

The Navy said it is closely monitoring the overall situation in coordination with national maritime agencies and that it remains committed to ensuring safety of merchant shipping in the region.