Indian Hegmonic Designs

India set to expand security footprint in nearby islands

Ajay Banerjee/TNS . New Delhi, October 15

India has planned a major expansion of its security footprint in the islands that dot the Indian Ocean. New Delhi has rolled out a long-term plan, sources said while adding that this would include setting up of a chain of radars in Maldives and Seychelles while work is already on a similar project in Mauritius.

These radars will transmit real-time data via satellites to Indian monitoring stations of the Navy and Coast Guard to present a seamless radar picture. The radars will be in synchronisation with the data flow from radars along the Indian coastline.

Besides this, India is manufacturing off-shore patrol vessels that will given to these islands.

Defence Minister AK Antony told the top brass of the Navy during a closed-door conference that “India is to be the net security provider to island nations in the Indian Ocean”.

Sources said the proposal to have coastal radars in the islands, where India has a high level of cooperation, has been cleared by the government. In the long run, it will firm up India’s presence in the ocean where China is moving very fast with sops and doles to island nations.

The quality of radars in these countries will be the same as the ones being set up along the Indian coastline. The contract for setting up 47 radars along the Indian coast at a cost of 602 crore was signed last month between the Coast Guard and the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).

Sources said the radars in Maldives would cover the crucial “9 degree” channel at sea. The channel is a 200 km-wide busy shipping lane south-west of the Lakshadweep islands. Huge ships carrying oil and gas worth billions of dollars pass through this lane. The radar will be so located that southern part of the Bay of Bengal and the sea route between Sri Lanka and the Andaman islands can also be watched.

The basing of radars in Maldives is crucial as China has long-term plans. Indian security sources believe that ever since Maldives leased its Marao Island to China in 1999 for maritime traffic management, the island is also being used by the Chinese to monitor Indian and US-NATO warships in the Indian Ocean.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20111016/nation.htm#8