Posted on 08/22/2014 12:46:09 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
New Delhi needs more firepower to protect its stake in the Indian Ocean, defense experts say
The Indian navy will add another warship into its rapidly expanding fleet over the weekend as it seeks to counter China’s growing supremacy on the high seas of the Indo-Pacific.
The INS Kamorta, which Indian officials are lauding as the nation’s first domestically built antisubmarine warship, will be unveiled to the public on Saturday during a ceremony at a naval dockyard in the eastern seaboard city of Visakhapatnam.
Earlier this month, newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi christened the nation’s newest naval destroyer, the INS Kolkata, which in turn followed the commissioning of India’s second aircraft carrier late last year. India’s navy is currently the only Asian maritime force in possession of two aircraft carriers and is scheduled to add a third in 2017.
According to defense experts, the commissioning of the Kamorta, the first of four such antisubmarine vessels that New Delhi is building, will provide additional muscle to protect its growing stake in the Indian Ocean.
“India wants to project power into the Indian Ocean region. It wants that to be its area of influence,” James Hardy, the Asia-Pacific editor at IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly, tells TIME.
To date, approximately 70% of all petroleum products and 50% of international container traffic pass through the Indian Ocean — making the body of water one of the world’s most strategically valuable maritime zones.
The waters are also highly coveted by Beijing, which has invested heavily in a network of commercial ports in the region that some politicians on the subcontinent fear may be a sly ploy to encircle India.
“India is extremely aware of the potential threat of Chinese expansion into the Indian Ocean region,” says Hardy.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
India should buy more hardware from the US, instead of Russia.
Those who advocate for our withdraw from the high seas, should hang their heads in shame.
Obama has abandoned all our allies, canceled military contracts while arming up Islamist states.
Our former allies have nowhere to go BUT Russia and China for hardware these days.
“India should buy more hardware from the US, instead of Russia.”
There is about 60 years of bad blood between India and the US. The US has constantly sided with Pakistan over India, driving India into the Soviet’s arms. It was a bad choice on our part. Then, when things were pretty well thawed, Obama had a female Indian diplomat cavity searched over some minor issue. It was apparently done on purpose and a huge embarrassment all around. We still probably haven’t worked through that issue. Then there’s the problem that if things go badly with the US again that we might not sell them spares. With most Russian hardware you can get spares anywhere.
Another issue which may play in this equation is that the Indian government runs on bribes. The Russians pay to play and it’s against the law for US companies to do the same.
Now, if we were willing to work a technology transfer it might make for a good deal initially. But we’d have to have an agreement where they didn’t compete against us for the same product elsewhere. Stuff we’ve sold to Korea has been reverse engineered (no tech deal, just stolen) and American companies must compete against Korean pin-for-pin replacement parts which are cheaper and, I suspect, as good or better. (I’ve actually had to deal with this.)
Dealing with the US is difficult and often fraught with danger. What one President agrees to and signs the next may undo with an executive order. That just won’t happen with Russian or Israeli equipment.
Very capable and stealthy, sea-going design.
Umm, if the Indian government does run on bribes, how is it that the US has become the biggest arms supplier to India in the past couple of years?
Either the government doesn’t entirely run on bribes or US companies also grease palms.
About spares for Russian hardware, what you said was true in the Soviet era. Not anymore, which is one of the reasons why New Delhi is moving away from Russia where possible. With US and European contractors, its a pure commercial contract, which provides for guaranteed delivery of spares unless its a sanctions situation. The same doesn’t work with Russian firms even at the best of times.
Anti sub ship huh? How good would this be in detecting a modern sub like an Astute or Virginia class? Certainly before the sub had seen it and sunk it...
not sure about the stealth with all the crud sticking up out of it...
“Umm, if the Indian government does run on bribes, how is it that the US has become the biggest arms supplier to India in the past couple of years?”
I am aware of those contracts. The Indian government has cracked down on the bribe culture. A few years ago a couple of Indian Air Force officers solicited bribes in exchange for better placement at an air show. They were punished. I don’t have a personal take on the bribe situation as I proposed Indian business but never actually worked with their (I’ve heard) Byzantine procurement process. (Note the problems they’ve had with the new fighter solicitation, which is years behind schedule. I think they’ve down-selected and then un-selected at least twice.)
Bribery isn’t going to go away anytime soon. If anything, the new checks-and-balances instituted over the past two decades have slowed down defense procurement significantly.
The Indian fighter procurement has had only one down-select: the Rafale and negotiations continue. The rest are rumours floated by the usual suspects.
Looks business-like.
What about the Afghan Navy?
Jeff,
Are you sure this passes as stealthy? Seems like a pretty unstealthy superstructure.
Congrats to India!
Good looking ship, one that its crew can be proud of, I think.
How stealthy can you make a ship, anyway? 300 ft long, 60 feet high (not including antennae), made of steel and/or aluminum?
Actually, it was the other way around. India, in the Nehru era, aligned itself with the Soviet Union. Therefore, the United States became more friendly with Pakistan.
There is no such thing as a practical stealthy ship...unless you consider submarines...
The US-Pakistan relationship was distinct from ties with India given Pakistan’s proximity to Iran, the most important Middle Eastern ally, and the wider Middle East.That explains why the US rushed military help to India during the 1962 China war.
India tilted to the Soviets, decisvely, during the time of Indira Gandhi a couple of years after the Pakis attacked in 1965 with US weaponry.
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