09-23-2024, 09:07 PM
[Analysis]
India is the only country which has an ocean named after it. Its peninsula is strategically located bang in the middle of the ocean with one side of the coastline projecting strength on the Arabian Sea front and the other side, the Bay of Bengal, with a clear view up to Antarctica in the south.
While it is an international territory, India aspires to be the biggest security provider in this region. She has constantly rejected countless offers from the American side, inviting her to military coalitions to suppress threats coming from the Somalian Pirates or the Yemenis groups. This is because India won't take part in any military grouping in the region that she isn't heading. Indian Navy, on its own accord, conducts multiple dangerous counter-piracy missions in the Arabian Sea every single day.
China, US, France and even the British maintains strategic military outposts in the Indian Ocean to project themselves in the area to an annoyance of India.
So what is Quarantining the Indian Ocean?
Indian strategic doctrine has always been:
If you have, use it. If you have to strike, go all in.
Indian Ocean has 8-9 choke points which is a weapon available only for India. If foreign adversaries block these points, India would be left unaffected as India doesn't have or wants a Blue Navy. She enjoys sitting in and controlling this region. Indians realised that they were colonised, the Europeans came via by the sea route when much of the emphasis was on the land routes and hence it should not happen again.
Countless Indian officials have come out after the Galwan incident saying that any military adventurism by China in the Himalayas, would result in blocking off all the entry-exit points of the Indian Ocean, which means All Out War. This is because 80% of the Chinese oil comes from the Indian Ocean.
Indians have radars on shore which can scan the entire ocean from land. It has radars installed in various island nations. It has also militarised its islands with radars, anti-ship and submarine detection and tracking units.
India currently operates 2 aircraft carriers, one for the Arabian sea, one for the Bay of Bengal and is planning a 3rd which will be kept in rotation for maintenance. Once the Indian Ocean is quarantined from all points, that's when the hunt for the remaining Chinese submarine would start. India recently conducted Air Force exercises simulating strikes on targets as far as on the African Coasts to the straight of Malaca while taking off from the bases deep inside the mainland and not utilising the forward island bases or aircraft carriers in case the advisories manage to pin the Indian Navy down.
Closing these points will stop most of the world trade which would call for international reaction. However, in 1971 war, when the Indians successfully conducted a Naval Blockade of both East and West Pakistan in two different seas against the warnings from international parties, it even sank an American cargo vessel trying to enter Pakistan. The US 7th Fleet made its way to the Bay of Bengal, threatening to start air striking the Indian coastline if the blockade wasn't lifted, even then the Indians didn't listen. This is when the Soviets came to assist India push off US. Even right now when India continues to buy Russian oil against heavy criticism and threats of sanctions, it indicates that when it is the case about protecting India's own interest, she will flex her muscles.
As the late Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi once said "Gone are the days when the nations of 'superior' colour sitting 5-8000 miles away [i]dictate India.[/i]"
![[Image: indian-ocean-region.png]](https://chintan.indiafoundation.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/indian-ocean-region.png)
India is the only country which has an ocean named after it. Its peninsula is strategically located bang in the middle of the ocean with one side of the coastline projecting strength on the Arabian Sea front and the other side, the Bay of Bengal, with a clear view up to Antarctica in the south.
While it is an international territory, India aspires to be the biggest security provider in this region. She has constantly rejected countless offers from the American side, inviting her to military coalitions to suppress threats coming from the Somalian Pirates or the Yemenis groups. This is because India won't take part in any military grouping in the region that she isn't heading. Indian Navy, on its own accord, conducts multiple dangerous counter-piracy missions in the Arabian Sea every single day.
China, US, France and even the British maintains strategic military outposts in the Indian Ocean to project themselves in the area to an annoyance of India.
So what is Quarantining the Indian Ocean?
Indian strategic doctrine has always been:
If you have, use it. If you have to strike, go all in.
Indian Ocean has 8-9 choke points which is a weapon available only for India. If foreign adversaries block these points, India would be left unaffected as India doesn't have or wants a Blue Navy. She enjoys sitting in and controlling this region. Indians realised that they were colonised, the Europeans came via by the sea route when much of the emphasis was on the land routes and hence it should not happen again.
Countless Indian officials have come out after the Galwan incident saying that any military adventurism by China in the Himalayas, would result in blocking off all the entry-exit points of the Indian Ocean, which means All Out War. This is because 80% of the Chinese oil comes from the Indian Ocean.
Indians have radars on shore which can scan the entire ocean from land. It has radars installed in various island nations. It has also militarised its islands with radars, anti-ship and submarine detection and tracking units.
India currently operates 2 aircraft carriers, one for the Arabian sea, one for the Bay of Bengal and is planning a 3rd which will be kept in rotation for maintenance. Once the Indian Ocean is quarantined from all points, that's when the hunt for the remaining Chinese submarine would start. India recently conducted Air Force exercises simulating strikes on targets as far as on the African Coasts to the straight of Malaca while taking off from the bases deep inside the mainland and not utilising the forward island bases or aircraft carriers in case the advisories manage to pin the Indian Navy down.
Closing these points will stop most of the world trade which would call for international reaction. However, in 1971 war, when the Indians successfully conducted a Naval Blockade of both East and West Pakistan in two different seas against the warnings from international parties, it even sank an American cargo vessel trying to enter Pakistan. The US 7th Fleet made its way to the Bay of Bengal, threatening to start air striking the Indian coastline if the blockade wasn't lifted, even then the Indians didn't listen. This is when the Soviets came to assist India push off US. Even right now when India continues to buy Russian oil against heavy criticism and threats of sanctions, it indicates that when it is the case about protecting India's own interest, she will flex her muscles.
As the late Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi once said "Gone are the days when the nations of 'superior' colour sitting 5-8000 miles away [i]dictate India.[/i]"