India is moving towards a development, investing heavily in the expansion of its naval and air power across the Indian Ocean, based on its aspiration to enhance the maritime domain awareness and maritime security and New Delhi’s growing anxieties about Chinese inroads in its strategic backyard.
Specifically, as the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative reports, India is building on improvements to become a stronger shipping force,
Given the continuous piracy, illegal fishing, and other maritime crimes, which remain serious concerns, India is dealing with these issues in four steps:
#1 The Indian military is upgrading its naval, coast guard, and air capabilities in order to better monitor and project power farther from shore.
#2 India focuses on improving its regional maritime domain awareness and creating a common operating picture through the work of the Indian Navy’s Information Fusion Centre for the Indian Ocean Region, or IFC-IOR.
#3 New Delhi is expanding its military ties along with other major players in the Indo-Pacific, including the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement signed with the United States in August 2016.
#4 New Delhi has grown concerned about Chinese investments in important ports like Hambantota in Sri Lanka and Gwadar in Pakistan which grant Beijing a degree of leverage over the host countries and could serve a dual function as future logistics hubs for the Chinese military.
