The commissioning on July 31 of INS Baaz, India’s first naval air
station at Campbell Bay, the southernmost island of the Andaman and Nicobar
group of islands, is an important strategic move by India. The naval air
station is very close to the Indonesian coast. However, friendly Indonesia need
not worry, as it is a China-specific move by the Indian navy.
Campbell Bay is India’s most
potent forward maritime military infrastructure, which would provide strategic
leverage to the air force and navy if a crisis situation were to erupt. It
would enable the Indian armed forces to launch a joint offensive in the area,
covering right up to the South China Sea. It will also enable the Indians to
take better care of their commercial and strategic interests in the Malacca
Strait and beyond.
The primary responsibility of INS
Baaz will be to provide information based on airborne maritime surveillance
using aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. In this sense, the naval air
station’s name is very apt, as baaz means “eagle” in Hindi. It will provide an
eagle’s eye view for the Indian armed forces over the strategic sea lanes
around Andaman and Nicobar islands, where the Indian navy has already been
augmenting its strength under the Andaman and Nicobar Command at Port Blair
with the latest warships, amphibious ships, naval offshore patrol vessels and
fast-attack craft.
The strategic chain of islands
has already emerged as a major launching pad for the Indian navy to conduct
cooperative patrols with neighboring nations like Indonesia and Thailand, and
slightly more distant Southeast Asian nations like Vietnam, Malaysia and
Singapore.
Interestingly, the latest Indian
move hasn’t triggered adverse reactions from Southeast Asian nations — a far
cry from the 1980s, when regional powers cried foul when the Indian navy first
started expanding in the Andaman and Nicobar islands. This time Southeast Asian
nations are looking rather benignly over the Indian initiative, considering
China’s aggressive posture in the region that has rattled some members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, particularly Vietnam and the
Philippines.
Significantly, the commissioning
of INS Baaz has coincided with the Obama administration’s declaration of a new
deployment policy in the Asia-Pacific region, where the US military will be
relocating 60 percent of its maritime power worldwide. The interpretation is
ominous: The strengthening of India’s naval presence near the Malacca Strait
puts the Indian maritime strategy in sync with that of the United States.
Obviously India’s Campbell Bay
initiative has been forced by China upping its ante over the South China Sea
issue. Moreover, the Indian navy has also put into operation two forward
operating bases in Kamorta (Nicobar) and Diglipur (Andaman) as well. The idea
of bolstering India’s military presence in the Andaman and Nicobar islands
germinated more than two decades ago, but the Indians never took concrete steps
to implement the plans. Now that Chinese pushes in the region have come to
shoves, the Indians have been forced to operationalize the naval air station at
Campbell Bay under the tri-service command.
What should be a matter of
concern for China is the fact that the Indian defense ministry has also given
permission to the navy to develop additional naval air stations on other
islands similar to Campbell Bay. The navy is now engaged in setting up
operational turnaround facilities for ships to be dispersed along the entire
length of the island chain to maximize the reach of ships and aircraft on
patrol.
The move, from the Indian point
of view, shows its resolve to protect its maritime interests to the last corner
of the Indian Ocean and even beyond into the Pacific Ocean. The Indian move
also signals its intent to integrate the highly strategic Andaman and Nicobar
islands in the national security mix like never before.
The new naval air station
overlooks the Malacca Strait and also dominates the Six Degree Channel, the
core thrust of the Chinese Navy (PLAN) these days, which lies between India’s
Great Nicobar Island and Indonesia’s Sumatra, where China’s shipping is
especially vulnerable to Indian and other forces.
Six Degree Channel is the third
of the three-island-chain strategy of the Chinese, while the first island chain
is centered on Taiwan and the second island chain extends from Japan to
Indonesia. The strategy will enable the Chinese, in the long run, to project power
capable of reaching America’s bases in Hawaii.
India recently based its
tri-services command in Andaman and Nicobar islands, which enables the Indians
to mount effective surveillance of the Lombok and Sunda straits as a non-lethal
demonstration of Indian capabilities, not different from the way the US navy is
building up Guam. The Campbell Bay naval air station at present is suitable
only for transport aircraft, helicopter and maritime reconnaissance operations,
with only 1,000 meters of runway. India’s navy is fast working on the plan to
extend the runway to 3,000 meters, which would allow the IAF Sukhoi-30MKI
aircraft to land and takeoff after refueling.
A massive plan to upgrade the
Campbell Bay naval air station is already in the works. It involves creating
infrastructure to facilitate the berthing of warships and enabling unrestricted
operation of all categories of aircraft including heavy aircraft. Modern
airfield instruments and navigational aids are going to be deployed at the
base. The Indian navy’s near-term plans for the base also include deploying the
Hercules C-130 aircraft there and enhancing Special Forces operations
capabilities.
The Indian move to bolster its
military presence in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, separated by 650 nautical
miles from mainland India and closer to Indonesia than the Indian mainland, is
aimed at milking the islands’ geo-strategic advantage to the hilt. These
islands open up a window to East Asia and Southeast Asia, while beefing up
Indian military reach for the Bay of Bengal region as well.
India’s Campbell Bay initiative
is a befitting response to the Chinese flexing of its military muscles in the
region. Neighboring powers like Indonesia should only feel reassured by the
move, as the Campbell Bay naval air station is India’s extended arm in the
Malacca Strait for the benefit of Southeast Asian nations.
Rajeev Sharma
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