India must develop its underwater surveillance capabilities to deter China

Underwater surveillance network could be the difference between winning and losing the military and maritime edge of the IOR

New Delhi: In December of 2019, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh announced that a Chinese naval ship was driven away from India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Andaman Sea. Two months before this incident the Indian Navy chased out another nuclear vessel from Beijing as it was steering dangerously close to Indian waters.

In 2017, the Indian Navy announced it’s noting of eight ships of the Chinese PLA Navy being regularly deployed in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), including nuclear-powered submarines. These are just some of the reported incidents from the recent past, highlighting the increasing Beijing’s aggressive push into the IOR.

The maritime IOR has been shrinking and there are few remaining uncontested waters. With support from Chinese hardware, new powers are rising, and not all support the ideals of the rule of law and transparency. On the other hand, the Western nations, through geopolitical narratives and partnerships, are also attempting to strengthen their presence in Asian waters.

With the battle for the supremacy of the IOR tides up, according to experts, tools such as the underwater surveillance network could be the difference between winning and losing. 

“Thus, India must develop an underwater acoustic vision. Growing underwater capabilities are central to the emerging power play in the Indo-Pacific scene,” said Dr (Cdr) Arnab Das, a former Indian Navy commander, and director of the Pune-based Maritime Research Centre.

While speaking to theNews21, on sidelines of his presentation on ‘Underwater Domain Awareness Framework: A New Perspective for the Indian Ocean Region’ at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in Mumbai, Dr. Das attempted to draw the focus on the need to develop India’s critical underwater capabilities.

Citing Beijing’s ‘Undersea Great Wall’ (UGW) Project, Dr. Das underlined as to how the President Xi Jinping-led government’s aim is to build a network of surface and sub-surface sensors for real-time monitoring of maritime targets. 

“The UGW project comprises of multiple underwater sensors mounted on surface ships, sonar systems, underwater security equipment, marine oil and gas exploration equipment, unmanned underwater vehicles and marine electronic equipment. Apart from gaining a military upper hand, this project may have strategic repercussions by prompting some countries that had been friendly toward New Delhi to shift allegiances,” claimed Das.

Acoustic capabilities are characterized in three distinct features – the acoustic sensor, the analysis algorithms, and the information-sharing mechanism. Recognizing the challenge for a single stakeholder to develop infrastructure of its own to counter a Chinese high-tide, Dr. Das advocated a partnership between India and its allies in the west.

“India should take maximum benefits of the new geopolitical chapter – Indo-Pacific – being shaped by the west. We can extend for getting our hands on highly specialized Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) from Europe,” opined Dr. Das. 

With China testing its ancient military strategy ‘Art of War’ in an unregulated blue landscape, is making the IOR extremely vulnerable and highly contested maritime zone. To push back and deter Beijing’s advancing rudder, New Delhi will have to develop and deploy a complementary set of underwater tools to secure its growing maritime interests in an evolving IOR.

Tags: India, China, Indo-Pacific, Navy, IOR, underwater surveillance, acoustic sensors, Arnab Das, Kunal Chonkar, Xi Jinping, SOSUS, Undersea Great Wall, ORF, Blue-water, Submarines, Maritime