India’s acquisition of a second-hand amphibious assault ship from the U.S. Navy early this year has encouraged the burgeoning regional power to re-think its naval strategy and its domestic shipbuilding and ship-support infrastructure, according to James Clad, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia. He says the 17,000-ton former USS Trenton, now the INS Jalashwa, has significantly boosted the Indian navy’s expeditionary capabilities at a time when the country’s economic and diplomatic sway has threatened to outstrip its military prowess. India, Clad says, is increasingly seen as “a power with global reach.,” especially as an exporter and financier. But its fleet still comprises mostly Russian-made vessels optimized for short-range, short-duration defensive missions – essentially a heavily armed coast guard.
“The Indian navy has realized that in order to modernize the fleet, it’s going to need to diversify sources [of ships],” says Amer Latif, an advisor to Clad. “India’s current naval shipbuilding infrastructure is not up to what we consider U.S. standards.” Growing demand for ship maintenance stemming from the Trenton acquisition should help spur some of those improvements. Clad says he is happy with the overall trends in Indian military development. He highlights the recent “Malabar” exercise in the Bay of Bengal that brought together nearly 30 warships from the U.S., Indian, Japanese, Singaporean and Australian navies, including two U.S. aircraft carriers and the Indian light carrier Viraat. The exercise demonstrated the underlying professionalism that is the Indian navy’s greatest strength, Clad says.
Read more in the latest issue of Defense Technology International.
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