These stations feed into the Indian Navy’s Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR). ![]() Jaishankar visited the Maldives and formally handed over a new Coastal Radar System consisting of 10 India-built radar stations across the Maldives. The Maldivesĭelhi has also put effort into building a relationship with the Maldives focused on the Indian Ocean. And in March of this year, Mauritius was admitted as a member of the Colombo Security Conclave, a regional grouping focused on maritime security that consists of India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, with Seychelles and Bangladesh participating as observers. In February 2021, India extended $100 million in credit for the procurement of defense assets by Mauritius and inked a deal to provide Dornier aircraft and Dhruv helicopters. India has also pursued maritime engagement with Mauritius through other measures. But in 2018, Mauritius’s prime minister Pravind Jugnauth also said India would be allowed to use the facilities “subject to prior notification” of Mauritius. Both countries maintain that the upgrades are mainly for the benefit of Mauritius, which will surely benefit from improved logistics and maritime patrol capabilities on the island. India signed an agreement in 2015 to develop the runway and jetty. Hangars under construction at Agalega, April 20, 2022 In recent imagery, progress can be seen on hangars along the runway which measure 180 feet long and 200 feet wide-big enough to house large military aircraft such as India’s P-8I Poseidon, which measures 123 in length and has a wingspan of 126 feet. Mauritiusįoremost among these maritime partnerships has been the upgrading of military infrastructure on the island of Agalega in Mauritius.Īs reported by the Lowy Institute in 2021, India constructed a 10,000-foot runway on Agalega in 2020, dwarfing the previous airstrip, as well as a jetty and significant new facilities construction at the northern end of the island. The Indian Ocean Neighborhoodĭespite setbacks in improving its own offshore facilities, India has made substantial progress in boosting joint capabilities with partners in the Indian Ocean. Other plans for a dual-use port that would host a naval detachment at Minicoy Island in India’s southwestern Lakshadweep archipelago have also fallen short, with no construction yet visible in satellite imagery. Instead, work began this February on repaving and widening the current runway. It was reported in July 2020 that land allotments and clearances for the runway’s extension had been completed, but current satellite imagery has yet to show any clearing of additional land on either end of the runway. The airstrip at Indian Naval Station (INS) Baaz on Great Nicobar Island was extended by 860 feet in 2021, and construction on buildings to the northwest of the runway remains ongoing.Īt INS Kohassa on North Andaman Island, an expected extension of the runway to 10,000 feet, the length required to host larger military planes, has not yet materialized. In the past two years, India has made modest upgrades to some of its offshore military bases in the Andaman and Nicobar islands. ![]() Taken together with modest improvements to India’s own offshore bases, these steps represent substantial movement from New Delhi along a trajectory that would position India as the beating heart of a maritime security network in the Indian Ocean. While not every planned upgrade has gone through in the years since, India has more than made up for individual setbacks by broadening and deepening defense ties with many of its most important maritime partners and securing a stake in several critical maritime infrastructure projects in the region. When AMTI last surveyed Indian maritime investments in 2019, many projects were ongoing. In the last decade, India has made a concerted effort to enhance its maritime posture in the Indian Ocean.
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