Rear Admiral Monty Khanna (Retd) – ‘Dabolim Diaries’ Issue No 31 dated 02 Nov 2026 The PLA Navy has been significantly increasing the number of assets in its inventory as also the size of them. As a consequence, the maintenance load of the service is steadily rising. In the past, a substantial part of this […]
The “Blue Economy”, at its broadest, seeks to balance economic development with environmental sustainability and equity, including the interests of communities that depend on marine resources, unlike the ocean economy’s narrower focus on extraction and output.[1] Its legal foundations are linked to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the […]
The intent for India-Japan collaboration in Africa has been a steady feature of the bilateral partnership for nearly a decade. It found its most prominent expression in the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC), unveiled at the Annual Meeting of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Gandhinagar in May of 2017.[1] Although […]
Keywords: critical infrastructure, security engineering, disaster management planning On 27 June 2017, AP Møller-Maersk, one of the world’s largest shipping companies, was struck by NotPetya, a malware initially resembling ransomware but subsequently understood to function as a destructive wiper. The attack disrupted the company’s information systems across its global operations, […]
Keywords: Indo-Philippines; Defence Industry Cooperation; Defence Technology; Indo-Pacific; South China Sea; Maritime Cooperation The India-Philippines BrahMos missile deal of 2022 made headlines globally.[1] It announced the arrival of India, hitherto known as the world’s largest arms importer,[2] as an emerging defence exporter, and drew the interest of other Southeast Asian […]
Background The transition towards low-emission shipping is beginning to alter the foundations upon which maritime economies compete. Each initiative carries forth a consequential wave, reshaping the priorities and requirements of stakeholders across the wider maritime ecosystem. The challenge, therefore, is no longer confined to improving vessel efficiency or replacing conventional […]
Edited by Joanne Wallis, Henrietta McNeill, James Batley and Anna Powles. Routledge, London and New York 2025. 334 pages, ISBN: 978-1-003-61319-0, (Open Access) As strategic competition between the United States and China increasingly plays out across the “Blue Pacific”,[1] the question of how the South Pacific’s island States and territories manage […]
India’s pursuit of a holistic and risk-resilient approach to disaster management requires disaster-risk considerations to be integrated across all levels of governance and sectors of the economy. Ministerial Disaster Management Plans (DMPs) of ministries and departments of the Union Government form an important part of this architecture by providing a framework […]
Keywords: Marine Spatial Planning, Indian Ocean, Regional Cooperation, Ocean Governance This paper argues that India should understand Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) not merely as an environmental management and conservation tool, but as a strategic asset. A carefully governed MSP architecture, one that integrates critical seabed infrastructure, including submarine cables, pipelines, and […]
Setting the Context Maritime connectivity has emerged as an increasingly important component of national and regional economic and strategic policy. Yet, the growing prominence of the term has not been accompanied by a corresponding clarification of what maritime connectivity actually encompasses. In policy practice, the concept is frequently used in a […]
Rear Admiral Monty Khanna (Retd) – ‘Dabolim Diaries’ Issue No 30 dated 19 Sep 2026 The PLA Navy has witnessed explosive growth over the past three decades. This growth has been underscored by a strong focus on research and development; wherein new systems are initially tested ashore in robust testing centers. This is followed by […]
Keywords: Djibouti Code of Conduct-Jeddah Amendment, India, Eastern Africa, Western Indian Ocean, Maritime Security Note: This article is the second (and concluding) part of a two-part series that undertakes an in-depth institutional study of the Djibouti Code of Conduct and its Jeddah Amendments (DCoC-JA). Part I examined the institutional evolution of […]