Indian Navy Must Add Platforms to Fend Off China-Pakistan Nexus

from Raksha Anirveda, Defence Magazine, October - December 2020

In News

SPOTLIGHT INDIAN NAVY MUST ADD PLATFORMS TO FEND OFF CHINA-PAKISTAN NEXUS, FOR A STABLE INDO-PACIFIC

Indian Navy needs to think out of the box and plan and acquire more platforms in the coming decade to maintain stability in India’s Oceanic Region as India and China-Pakistan relations are at its nadir

INS Arihant

By CMDE RANJIT B RAI (RETD)

I

n this 21st Century India has risen as a global power after it blasted its way into the nuclear club in 1998 as a non non-proliferation treaty (NPT) member, much to China’s chagrin. India also commissioned a homemade nuclear armed submarine INS Arihant with K-15/ B-05 missiles by 2016 after operating two SSNs on lease from Russia. Maritime power is an essential asset for any aspiring global power and China increased the percentage of its defence budget for the PLA (Navy) when it saw the Indian Navy rising in quantity and quality and to take on the US maritime power in the decades ahead.

However the Indian Navy has seen brakes to its expansion with insufficient budgets after the PLA surprised Indian Army and a 73-day standoff took place in the Doklam region bordering Sikkim. Ministry of Defence (MoD) attention shifted to beef up the Army and the Air Force. The message of this article is that the Indian Navy needs to think out of the box and plan and acquire more platforms in the coming decade to maintain stability in India’s Oceanic Region as India and China-Pakistan relations are at its nadir.

In the last few months with Covid raging, China muddied its relations with India by moving PLA troops into areas considered no man’s land, along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. Chinese military follows Zhuge Liang (181-234) who wrote 36 Stratagems of war. He preceded Sun Tzu (Fifth century). Zhuge’s quote, ‘The wise win (area?) before the fight, while the ignorant fight to win’ is highlightedin External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar’s book, ‘The India Way’ in his chapter Managing China’s Rise. The Chinese claim Sun Tzu’s Art of War is more about philosophy

of war and teach Zhuge Liang in Staff Colleges as the Principles of War. PLA surprised both the Indian Army and ITBP that guard the LAC.

Prime Minister bolstered the morale of the 14th Corps troops and addressed them at Nimu near Leh on July 3. MoD issued fresh rules of engagement and orders of Rs 38,000 cr worth of weapons and aircraft for the Army, Air Force and ITBP forces to be beefed up with weapons, equipment, manpower and road infrastructure to ward off the Chinese threat. Indian Air Force assets were forward deployed in land air battle operations, along with Navy’s MiG-29Ks and P-8Is. Establishment 22s hitherto classified Tibetan Special Frontier Forces (SFF) trained at Chakrata, operated with Indian commandos to take the commanding heights in a riposte in South Pangong Tso lake area in early September. The Army is prepared to be locked in a harsh winter confrontational mode, with China’s PLA.

THE MARITIME SCENE

Indian Navy’s ships were put on alert from May as the faceoff continued in Ladakh. On September 17, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addressed Indian Parliament that both countries needed to keep peace and tranquility and said, “We can start a war, but its end is not in our hands,” as a message to China that India was ready for any eventuality. This was a call to the Indian Navy not to be surprised by the PLA (Navy) if China makes similar sudden aggressive moves into the Indian Ocean Region (IOR),

P-8I

MiG-29

and Navy has a responsibility to Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPS) in the Indo-Pacific for peace and stability, and trade. Navy is also tasked to be the Net Security Provider and support PM Narendra Modi’s maritime policy of Security and Growth for All in the Region(SAGAR) in IOR for economic prosperity through cooperation.

Harking back post taking over the reign in 2014, on December 15, 2015 Prime Minister Narendra Modi underscored the need for a strong Navy and said during the Commander’s conference on board INS Vikramaditya, “India’s history has been influenced by the seas. And, the passage to our future prosperity and security also lies on this ocean. It also holds the key to the fortunes of the world.” However after China’s incursion into Doklam and the 73-day standoff in 2017 the Navy’s budget was cut and four LPDs and third aircraft carrier plans were shelved. INDIAN NAVY OPERATES 114 SHIPS INCLUDING THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER INS VIKRAMADITYA WITH MIG-29K AIRCRAFT, 13 OLD CONVENTIONAL AND TWO NEW SCORPENE SUBMARINES (KALVARI AND KHANDERI) AND TWO NUCLEAR SUBMARINES THE SSN INS CHAKRA AND SSBN INS ARIHANT, AND 200 AIRCRAFT AND HELICOPTERS

“INDIA’S HISTORY HAS BEEN INFLUENCED BY THE SEAS. AND, THE PASSAGE TO OUR FUTURE PROSPERITY AND SECURITY ALSO LIES ON THIS OCEAN. IT ALSO HOLDS THE KEY TO THE FORTUNES OF THE WORLD”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Commander’s conference on board INS Vikramaditya The lock downs in Covid and cost escalations have slowed warships under construction in PSU shipyards, putting brakes on Navy’s target of 200 ships and 400 aircraft by 2027.

Indian Navy operates 114 ships including the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya with MiG-29K aircraft, 13 old conventional and two new Scorpene submarines (Kalvari and Khanderi) and two nuclear submarines the SSN INS Chakra and SSBN INS Arihant, and 200

INS Vikramaditya

INS Chakra

aircraft and helicopters. Only one order was confirmed during President Trump’s visit in February 2020 for 24 direly needed MH-60R Seahawk Hellfire missile firing helicopters for US$2.6 billion from Lockheed Martin. They will replace 40 year old aging ASW Seaking MK42Bs for Navy’s front line ships. PLA (N) on the other hand is adding around 15 platforms a year.

Navy’s current budget allocation for 2020-21 is merely Rs 61,890 crore which is 13 per cent down from 18 per cent that CNS Admiral Karambir Singh has publicly lamented. The Navy’s budget barely covers the annual payments for the second indigenous 38,500 tonne aircraft carrier Vikrant at Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) undergoing harbour trials, four Type 7,600 tonne 15B BrahMos-Barak destroyers and four Scorpene submarines at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MSDL) with Exocet missiles and seven 4,000 tonne Type 17A Shivaliks (four at MSDL and three at GRSE) in stages of building.

Two Krivacks are ordered from Yantar at Kallingrad in Russia and two are being built by Goa Shipyard (CSL) with Russian help. Four Survey ships have just begun construction at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE) and eight each shallow waster ASW craft ordered at CSL and Visakhapatnam Shipyard Ltd (HSL). Four P-8I MR planes from Boeing will be delivered in 2021.

Indian Navy’s expansion is critical as nearly two dozen platforms (eight Kilo and four Shishumar class submarines, four Khukri, six Sukanya and two Rajput class warships) will be more than thirty years old and will have to be decommissioned in the coming decade. India’s economy which has slowed may not spare large funds to the Navy for the time being. India has to think out of the box and look to ideas to add platforms. Fortunately India possesses an advantageous geographic locale to contain China’s maritime truck with Pakistan with PLA (N) bases in Gwadar and Djibouti.

India is allergic to sign

alliances but US and the QUAD plus nations are in support to help maritime India. One idea gaining traction is for India to sign an Indo-US Charter for the IOR and Indo-Pacific for co-operation and lend lease of platforms from US Navy and also acquire moth balled ships from Foreign Military Sales (FMS), just as Prime Minister Churchill had signed the Atlantic Charter in August 1941 with President Roosevelt to lend and lease equipment to meet Hitler’s aggressiveness before US entered World War II. India alone cannot contain China’s aggressiveness as Indian Ocean and Indo Pacific are large. A precedent was set when Indira Gandhi signed a Peace Treaty with the Soviet Union in 1971 as insurance against US’ support to Pakistan which paid dividends in the war for Bangladesh.

Indian Navy’s expansion is inescapable in the coming decade. Navy is making its mark, employing and upgrading older ships and even using OPVs as training ships. The message needs to go out that Indian Navy is three dimensional with the ability to deter, induce or coerce a foe to submission, and in the last resort, defeat an enemy in war at sea or even starve a nation with a blockade. Indian Navy has achieved that ability in a limited way, as the fifth largest Navy in the world and will be critical for the security of the Indo Pacific security but will need bigger budgets and as Rabindra Nath Tagore said, ‘You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.’

–The author is former DNI and DNO. His latest Novel ‘An Underhand Affair’ (Addhyan ISBN 9789388644167 Variety Books) includes intrigues in the world of Naval Intelligence