Thirdly, low intensity maritime threats, which include piracy, gunrunning, drug smuggling, illegal immigration, etc., are increasing in intensity and frequency. Being transnational in character, these threats require the cooperative use of maritime forces to tackle them effectively. India already conducts joint patrols with Indonesia and Sri Lanka and an agreement with Thailand for similar patrols is due to be signed soon. The danger of a grave threat from the seas is also driving security initiatives like the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code, the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) and the Container Security Initiative (CSI). These initiatives require multilateral maritime cooperation in order to succeed.
And lastly, environmental issues like the sustainable use of fishing resources, and pollution control, as well as matters relating to Search and Rescue, EEZ Patrols, etc., are increasingly engaging the attention of navies and coast guards. All these issues also need a multilateral approach to be effective.
Against the backdrop of what I have said so far, oceans today are not expanses of water that divide continents, but maritime highways that link nations. I also see them as a broad canvas on which the drama of international relations is often played out.
Warship building today is an expensive proposition due to the high infrastructure costs of shipyards, as well as the expense of design and development. Collaborative R&D, design, building and even marketing efforts between two or more countries in this region can bring with it many advantages”¦
Our other adversary, of course, can be Mother Nature, and we always need to be prepared for natural disasters. It is just five months since this region went through the tragedy of the Indian Ocean Tsunami. This disaster afforded an opportunity to demonstrate clearly to the world community the unique global brotherhood of the seas, and the ability of navies to not just work alongside each other, but also to catalyze and facilitate cooperation amongst nations.
I want to point out that in contrast to the Cold War era, when it was ideology that created hostility, the fight today is against the forces of anarchy, obscurantism and fundamentalism. If there can be an unholy nexus of international proportions amongst the bad guys; men of goodwill too must come together. Navies, therefore, must be equipped with the wherewithal to enable international cooperation. Let us then have a look at a few of these technologies and start with a survey of naval platforms in all the three dimensions.
First of all, the surface ship. This platform has weathered many debates about its continued utility in the face of emerging threats of every nature, including growing costs. Experience has, however, shown that large multipurpose ships allow great flexibility across a range of activity extending from hot conflict to humanitarian aid. Warships also provide unique reach and sustainability. Keeping these useful attributes in mind, technologies relating to propulsion, low visibility and hull forms must engage our attention.
One of the lessons of the 2004 Tsunami was that navies must have the ability to access the coast easily from the sea, which is not always permitted by existing hulls. Developments have been undertaken to find unconventional hull forms that would combine shallow draft, higher speeds, better sea-keeping qualities, and improved survivability. The new ideas that find application in warships include: multiple hulls like catamarans, trimarans and pentamarans; surface effect ships, air-cushion vehicles, semi-planning monocoques, and delta hull forms, etc. Stealth is another consideration that is literally changing the “shape of ships” to come.
The displacement of the battleship by the aircraft carrier was one of the most significant maritime developments of the last century. This is one platform that has remained at the vortex of controversy, and continuously attracted fire from its many detractors. However, quite apart from their military utility, events have shown that aircraft carrying platforms – and I include the LHD, LHA and LPD -have a tremendous role to play in peacetime activities too, especially disaster relief.
The Indian Navy has now been operating carriers, for close to half a century, and we have just reaffirmed our faith in this platform by buying one from Russia, and commencing the construction of a second one in India. Carriers have a whole range of unique technologies associated with aircraft launch, recovery and navigation, which are also evolving rapidly.
while exploring technology and exploiting it at sea, we must also try and leverage it to bring navies together. The sum of the parts is often greater than the whole, and with the tremendous resources, and human talent available, given the resurgent economies of our region, we can achieve a lot if we work together.
Factors such as high acquisition, manning and lifecycle costs of aircraft have led navies to look towards unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to supplement the efforts of Fleet Aviation. The Indian Navy was amongst the first to have operated UAVs at sea, and we have found them most useful. The future seems to point towards an increasing role for such unmanned platforms – in the air, underwater and on the surface – to perform cooperative surveillance tasks with greater efficiency and reduced costs.
Due to the submarine’s inherent stealth qualities; sea denial and trade warfare have remained its forte. Earlier attempts to integrate submarines with fleet operations were largely stymied by communication problems, but with increasing connectivity and longer range weapons, submarines are increasing their scope of operations. Even as interest in submarines grows rapidly amongst navies in the IOR, technology is being marshalled to bring about major improvements in the performance of the diesel- propelled boat.
Areas of focus include noise reduction, non-hull penetrating and optronic masts, towed wire antennae and sonars, cruise missiles, launch of Special Forces, and of course air independent propulsion. Technology will ensure that the submarine continues to hold its position as a platform of the future; and transformation will provide new and more useful roles for it.
Please wait...
