Navy for the high seas

Space is also devoted to missions of the navy and its operational tasks. From its 1971 experience, it gained experience on how to craft operational plans and directives, and the final operational orders which are issued to fighting units in a sealed manner so that in case the balloon goes up, the right envelope is opened and prosecution of the operation undertaken. Vigorous exercises are conducted on these lines.

Geographically, India juts into the Indian Ocean and the three functions of its navy is to be a war fighting force, an effective constabulary policeman along with the Coast Guard in the region, as well as to contribute to benign and coercive diplomacy in the littoral. The last aspect has gained relevance and strategic importance and the western navies are building ships for littoral warfare. In March 2001, Admiral Dennis Blair, the then commander of the United States Pacific Command, accepted that the Indian Navy’s role was closely intertwined with preserving the SLOCs in the Indian Ocean for the future economic security of the world. He took measures for the Indian and the US Navy to harmonise engagement objectives which could also enhance India’s regional objectives with US cooperation. India’s planners took the cue and planned for a larger navy but the question of where the resources will come from dogs the bureaucracy and the politicians, with competing claims from the air force and the man power intensive army at a time when revenue spending is eating in to the capital needs. India’s leadership has appreciated that India’s long coast line of 7500 km, the safety of the 1000 islands dotted around it, and the off shore energy and other assets in 2.1 million sq km of EEZ have to be defended under the changed parameters of maritime security post 9/11.

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, speaking to the Navy Foundation, accepted that India’s Navy needs to become a reckonable force and needs advance financial clearances. However, in a jocular vein he also confessed that matters look different when one is in the North Block which annually cuts the spending, while in South Block the cry is for more funds. He lamented that India’s trade in the world’s pecking order is only 0.8 per cent of the whole but was confident it would rise. He stated that defence exports needed a re-look as also easier FDI rules for investment in defence industries. These pragmatic vibes pleased the audience as it underscores that the armed forces cannot be captive importers of military hardware forever. The tide is turning with India’s prowess in IT and engineering. Companies like HAL, Tatas, L&T, Ashok Leyland and Mahindras and other enterprises are making a mark.

India has been accepted as a de facto nuclear power. Hence the navy has scripted ambitions to possess a potent sea based second-strike capability in the doctrine as a part of India’s triad and that programme is being generously funded to induct nuclear propelled submarines. If the foreign media is to be believed, then by 2007-8 the Navy will have a Russian Akula class nuclear boat on lease for 10 years on the lines of INS Chakra, possibly the Nerpa that lies half completed at the Amur shipyard, and its own ATV under nuclear power at sea. The Navy has shifted from being a Pakistan centric force to becoming a three dimensional sea control maritime one. Now it must be funded in national interest.

The writer is the author of ‘India’s Navy At War’