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REAM NAVAL BASE UPGRADE PROJECT IN CAMBODIA: NEW POINT FOR GEOPOLITICAL CONTESTATION IN THE INDO-PACIFIC
A resurgent China aspires to be a great maritime power with a vision to maintain a naval presence in distant seas across the globe. Recognising that this presence can only be sustained through logistics and administrative support, Beijing seeks…

THE VIKRANT AIRCRAFT CARRIER REBORN: INDIAN NAVY’S ‘ATMANIRBHARATA’ ENDEAVOUR COMES OF AGE
The commissioning of the Indian indigenously built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant is a seminal event in the long and illustrious history of the Indian Navy. The occasion also marks the maturing of India’s warship designing and construction…

PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF MARITIME SECURITY COOPERATION IN THE INDIAN OCEAN REGION: A CASE STUDY OF THE INDIAN OCEAN NAVAL SYMPOSIUM (IONS) – PART I
Overview
“States that adjoin this ocean are differentiated by their varying political ideologies, by the God they pray to, by the language they converse in, by their history and their race.”[1]
The Indian Ocean Region (IOR) has variously…

THE VANILLA ISLANDS — POTENTIAL FOR A ‘PLURALISTIC SECURITY COMMUNITY’
The expression “Vanilla Islands” is a colloquialism that has been gaining currency since 2010 and is used to collectively describe a group of six exotic island-States (Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Reunion, and Seychelles) that…

NATIONAL PERSPECTIVES: INDIA’S MARITIME OUTLOOK
This paper was published as a chapter in a book titled “Schools of Maritime Thought: Perspectives from Six Nations”. The book is the first product of ‘The Maritime Research Working Group’ (MRWG) organised by the Sea Power Centre-Australia…

STRENGTHENING NEARCOAST SEARCH AND RESCUE: A WHOLE-OF-SOCIETY APPROACH
Coastal States are required to establish, operate and maintain effective Search and Rescue (SAR) services. India’s responsibilities for such services, which begins from its coast, extends over an expansive region, and necessitates the use…

REFLECTIONS ON INDIA’S VIKRANT-CENTRIC CARRIER BATTLE GROUP
The successful completion of the five-day sea trials (from 04 to 08 August 2021) of the long-delayed indigenous aircraft carrier, the new Vikrant, is a seminal event and one that has been justifiably met with elation and a palpable sense of…

PEERING DOWN THE HATCH: A QUICK PEEK AT INDIA'S SUBMARINE-WORLD
A Hindi translation of this article has been published in the April-May 2021 issue of “Defence Monitor” (Vol 9, Issue-4), a leading Hindi language defence magazine published in India. This English version is published with permission…

COASTAL SECURITY IN INDIA: TWELVE YEARS AFTER ‘26/11’
INTRODUCTION
It has been twelve years since the heinous attack on Mumbai on 26 November 2008. While ‘coastal border management’ was institutionalised in 2004 with the establishment of the Department of Border Management (DoBM) in the…

CLIMATE RISKS TO INDIA’S HOLISTIC MARITIME SECURITY PART 1: RISING SEA LEVEL
In recent decades, climate change has evolved from a supposed distant problem for future generations to a major imminent security threat for all nations worldwide.[1] Climate-change-induced food and water shortages, combined with sea level…

MISSION SAGAR: MAINTAINING A POSITIVE AND FAVOURABLE MARITIME ENVIRONMENT IN THE FACE OF THE COVID PANDEMIC
Introduction
India has been providing Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) assistance to nations as “its sense of obligation, and historical experience require it to demonstrate empathy for the victims of disasters in all…

MITIGATING COVID-19 : THE INDIAN NAVY IN THE VANGUARD — AS ALWAYS
This article seeks to provide the lay reader an insight into the Indian Navy’s centrality and the positivity of its contribution — at the strategic, operational and tactical levels — to India’s maritime efforts to mitigate the adverse…