Indian Navy Advocates For Increased Assets: A Comprehensive Case

Recently, there have been more problems in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). This is mostly because of the Houthi group in Yemen, which is backed by Iran, attacking ships in the Red Sea.

People think that this aggressive behavior is a response to what Israel has done in the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by Hamas. In addition, the situation has gotten worse because Somali pirates have become more daring since the Houthi missile strikes and are trying to take over more civilian ships.

In reaction to these growing threats, the Indian Navy (IN) has sent 10 warships to the area, five of which are destroyers: INS Kolkata, INS Kochi, INS Mormugao, INS Chennai, and INS Visakhapatnam.

To make sure the seas are safe, a logistics tanker, a P-8I Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft, and MQ-9 Sea Guardian drones have been placed in key places.

With these tools, the Indian Navy was able to quickly respond to distress calls from two commercial ships that had been hit by Houthi missiles and stop two attempts by Somali pirates to take over ships, all in the span of two weeks.

Because of these operations, the Indian Navy has become the area’s key security force, keeping the peace in the waters and making sure ships can safely pass through.

The Indian economy depends on this area a lot.

It’s impossible to stress how important the Indian Navy is when you consider that about 65% of India’s crude oil imports, worth a total of $105 billion, and a lot of the country’s goods imports (50%) and exports (60%) go through the Red Sea.

Any problems with this important maritime route could really hurt India’s trade.

Making sure business shipping is safe is the best reason why the Indian Navy needs more assets, and it needs them faster. This is a reason it has tried to make before but failed.

Even more than the army and air force, the navy has been a leader of atmanirbhar by focusing on weapons and gear made in India.

India is the country that makes most of its new frigates and destroyers. These include the INS Vikrant aircraft carrier, the Shivalik and Nilgiri class frigates, the Kamorta class corvettes, and many patrol boats and offshore patrol vehicles.

With plans to add almost entirely ships made in India over the next 15 years, such as a second aircraft carrier, Project-75I and Scorpene class submarines, and P-18 class destroyers, the Indian Navy is firmly committed to making ships in India.

But it has problems because it doesn’t have enough money. Karambir Singh, who used to be Chief Admiral of the Navy, said that the navy’s share of the overall defense budget has gone down from 18% in 2012–13 to just 13% in 2019–20.

Because of this, important purchases like the 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier, diesel-electric subs, landing helicopter docks, and multi-role helicopters have been put off because of a lack of money.

As India’s exports rise, protecting the sea paths that are necessary for trade will become more important. This is especially true since China’s moves into the Indian Ocean are still making the navy very weak. The Indian economy will do better with a better-funded navy. The best case for this has been made in the last few days.