Sadly, the debate over how best to optimise - if not maximise - India’s air and aerospace power and apply it effectively in the pursuit of the nation’s interests, over the land and also over the vast oceanic expanse of the Indo-Pacific (or even just that of the Indian Ocean), seems somehow meaner, more small-minded and partisan, more bigoted and stultified, and, perhaps, even more dumbed-down than has thus far been the case. There are, unfortunately, a small number of vested constituencies, both within the country and beyond its shores, that have been highlighting the adverse economic impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and calling for a renewed examination of the desirability and the defensibility of aircraft carriers in the prevailing economic and security environments, as also those expected to prevail over foreseeable future. Yet, it is also evident that not everyone is exulting in this resurgence of ‘Maritime India’. It also involves ‘capability’ as connoted by the quality of personnel, their training and the overall development of the human resource, both in and out of uniform. Such investment involves infrastructure and ‘capacity’ as represented by surface, sub-surface, and airborne combat and combat-supporting platforms (whether these be manned, minimally manned, or unmanned, semi-autonomous or autonomous) and associated equipment. For India, therefore, the sustenance of its rise demands that the country enhance, in significant manner, its investment in all of the various dimensions of maritime power, including the ‘military’ components of India’s maritime power, which are manifested by the Indian Navy. India’s polity appears to be finally coming around to the fact that over the foreseeable future, India will be either be a “maritime” power, or it will not be a power at all. Indeed, the current century and very possibly the next one, too, are very likely to be maritime-centric ones. This is true whether by way of trade, technology and connectivity, or by way of food-security, or in terms of new and clean energy sources, or in dealing with the cumulative impacts of geophysical and anthropomorphic causes of climate change. It is particularly germane to assert that this rise is occurring in an increasingly interconnected world - even if is not entirely a ‘globalised’ one - and that it is largely being shaped by the oceans. It is clear from the available evidence that India is rising - peacefully, responsibly, and with impressive rapidity, even in these pandemic-afflicted times.
#NAVY BATTLE GROUP SERIES#
The additional fact that this demonstration Indian naval capacity and capability has been made in the Swarnim Vijay Varsh commemorating the 50 th anniversary of the victory of Indian arms against Pakistan in the 1971 conflict that resulted in the creation of Bangladesh, and, given that it has been almost in tandem with India’s record medal haul in the Tokyo Olympics (23 July to 08 August 2021), the voyage of the Vikrant has certainly added to the series of adrenaline spikes and generated a palpable surge of nationalistic pride. On the very next day (09 August 2021) Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, personally chaired a High Level Open Debate at the UN Security Council, on the theme “Enhancing Maritime Security: A case for International Cooperation”, emphatically bringing “Maritime India” to the front and centre of the global maritime discourse and dominating India’s eighth rotational membership of this apex intergovernmental organisation. “Maritime” is quite clearly the prevailing geopolitical flavour. 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 maritime pride.
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