Dramatic drone footage showing Indian commandos hunting pirates after an attack in the Arabian Sea illustrates New Delhi's “significant” expansion of a powerful naval force that reflects global ambitions, analysts said.
The commandos, deployed this month after the attempted hijacking of a bulk carrier from an Indian-built warship, are part of a major buildup of naval forces in seas where rival neighbor China has long expanded its reach.
“Given the geopolitical context” and the aggressive “use of naval resources, this is significant,” said Uday Bhaskar, head of the New Delhi-based think tank Society for Policy Studies.
In recent years, Beijing has negotiated infrastructure deals with countries around the Indian Ocean as part of its Belt and Road Initiative, including Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Bangladesh and Djibouti, where it opened its first overseas military base in 2017, a move by India officials raised concerns.
Now Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is expected to be re-elected later this year, is trying to increase the global importance of India, the world's fifth-largest economy, which last year displaced China as the most populous country.
“As India continues to rise in the hierarchy of major international powers, it wants to emerge as a leading and responsible power,” said Don McLain Gill of De La Salle University in the Philippines.
His naval deployment is part of his “desire to play a larger and more proactive role as a responsible security and development partner,” Gill told AFP.
– “Very proactive action” –
Indian combat operations against pirates are nothing new.
The navy has been continuously deployed off Somalia since 2008, when piracy increased. It bombed and sank pirate “mother ships” from the coast of India to the Gulf of Aden, boarded helicopter boats and captured dozens of gunmen.
But the Navy's deployment of a far larger force in December – including three guided-missile destroyers and P-8I reconnaissance aircraft to “maintain a deterrent presence” after a series of ship attacks – marked a rapid troop buildup.
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh pledged that shipping would be protected “from the sea to the heights of the sky” at the launch of India's newest home-built warship, which joins an indigenous fleet with an aircraft carrier and submarines.
The response followed a Dec. 23 drone attack on the MV Chem Pluto tanker 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) off the coast of India, which Washington blamed on Iran – which Tehran described as “worthless.”
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis have launched numerous attacks on Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea in response to Israel's war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is also backed by Tehran.
India, which has close trade ties with Iran, has not joined the US-led force in the fight against the Houthis.
On Thursday, US President Joe Biden said US and British forces had launched airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen as part of a “defensive operation” following recent attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
The United States and nine allies said in a joint statement that their goal was to stabilize key shipping routes and “protect the free flow of trade” there.
But with international naval forces redirected north into the Red Sea – sparking fears that resurgent pirates could exploit the loophole, and recording the first successful case of Somali piracy since 2017 in December – New Delhi remains concerned about the impact on trade.
A report from the New Delhi-based Research and Information System for Developing Countries warned that India could lose $30 billion in exports this year – a six percent drop – if more ships had to be rerouted via South Africa.
But India is taking “very proactive measures” to ensure that pirates “do not venture into the Indian Ocean region,” Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Hari Kumar told reporters on Wednesday at an event featuring an Indian-made long-range aircraft A reconnaissance drone was demonstrated.
– 'Run away like rats' –
On Jan. 5, after the Liberian-flagged ship Lila Norfolk reported a hijacking attempt about 450 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia, an Indian destroyer and a surveillance aircraft tracked the ship and issued a “strong warning,” the Navy said.
By the time the elite commando force boarded for so-called “disinfection” operations, the pirates had fled – but the footage was widely shared by the Navy as evidence of its “rapid response” ability.
It showed that India “can establish a credible naval presence in the Indian Ocean region if needed in the short term,” said Bhaskar, a retired naval officer.
Beijing and New Delhi are vying for influence across the Indian Ocean, and India has previously deployed patrols in the disputed South China Sea and the Western Pacific.
India has also expanded its forces into the Arabian Sea at a time when Asian rival China has been “more cautious in its response, fearful of damaging its recently developing ties with the Arab world,” Gill added.
Former Navy spokesman DK Sharma stressed that the operation was only aimed at “rogues who are exploiting the Israel-Hamas war” by attacking ships.
“India believes in maintaining peace in the global polity,” Sharma said. “We have no ambition to say that the Indian Ocean is India’s ocean.”
But he also expressed confidence that Beijing had “taken note” of India’s quick response, which forced pirates to “run away like rats.”
“China can see it any way they want,” he said.
abh/pjm/sco