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| INS Vikramaditya (File Photo) |
By Abhijit Singh
The Indian Navy has released a new maritime security strategy document.
Last week, the Indian Navy held a landmark combined commanders’ conference on its premier naval platform, the INS Vikramaditya. The senior officers’ conclave – the first of its kind to be organized aboard an aircraft carrier – was made memorable by a rousing address delivered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in which he outlined New Delhi’s many challenges in Asia, paying particular attention to India’s strategic stakes in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
The discourse may have pleased naval commanders in attendance – not least because the prime minister had a word of praise for the Indian Navy’s strategy for the IOR, a presumed reference to the recently released Indian maritime security strategy document. The new publication has been the subject of much discussion in maritime circles recently. In the absence of an online version for public viewing, however, speculation abounds about its many assertions and pronouncements. This review is an attempt at capturing the publication’s salient highlights – its guiding principles, the assessment of threats and challenges, recommended operational methodologies, and proposals for strategic outreach and force-projection.
Titled “Ensuring Secure Seas,” the Indian Maritime Security Strategy (IMSS-2015) is an updated version of a previous publication, “Freedom to Use the Seas” – the Indian Navy’s playbook for security operations during the past decade. Released just weeks before the commencement of an international fleet review at Visakhapatnam, the new document is an enunciation of contemporary nautical precepts, and a reflection of the Indian Navy’s current maritime operations philosophy.
This is the third maritime guidance document since 1998 and the most comprehensive account of India’s nautical imperatives, challenges, strengths and opportunities. As in the case of its predecessor documents, the new volume attempts to outline India’s naval operational determinants, which it describes as a combination of imperatives and drivers – the former concerning national economic needs; the latter, a combination of traditional and irregular threats at sea.
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