Manoj Ambat's Blog dealing with Defence, Foreign Affairs, Strategic Affairs and Politics

Image credits- Indian Navy Source- The National Interest Author- James Holmes Whither Indian maritime strategy? New Delhi reportedly wants to fit out a 200-ship navy by 2027, centered on aircraft-carrier task forces, a mix of conventional and nuclear-powered submarines, and missile-toting aircraft and surface combatants. That’s up from 124 by my tally. What will India do with a navy whose numbers mushroom by over 60 percent in a dozen years? It’s a fair and indeed vital question to ask. India would be far from the first seagoing nation to build ships for shipbuilding’s sake. Now, it’s important to preface any foray into naval matters with a caveat, namely that it’s crucial not to get transfixed by brute numbers of hulls. Big round numbers exert a particularly potent allure—witness America’s bid for a 600-ship U.S. Navy during the 1980s, and its struggle to maintain a 300-ship navy today. Anyway. Estimating the combat punch of a 200-ship Indian Navy requires observ

Jiaolong ( Water Dragon) AG600 ( Credits- Author) Source- The Diplomat Author- Franz Stefan-Gady After months of speculation China finally announced that it is has started to assemble the Jiaolong (Water Dragon) AG600 – the world’s largest amphibious aircraft, according to the International Business Times. The first airframe is currently being constructed at a facility in Zhuhai in Guangdong province. Final assembly should be completed  by the end of 2015 with a first flight tentatively scheduled for mid-2016. Government sources report that an order for 17 planes has already been placed domestically. As I reported before (See: “Will This Plane Let China Control the South China Sea?”), the AG600 is capable of landing and taking off on water (and land) and could make it easier for Beijing to press its claims in the South China Sea. Back in April, a defense analyst observed: Amphibious planes like the AG600 would be perfect for resupplying the new artificial

Image source- Wikimedia Commons / Credits- Heurik) Source- The National Interest Author- Anthony Fensom The risk of “Grexit” may have rattled financial markets, but for the Asia-Pacific region, an even bigger and closer threat is giving policymakers sleepless nights. Memories of Japan’s bubble-to-bust have been revived by China, which like its neighbor has enjoyed a massive stock and property bubble that is now rapidly deflating. And with the communist giant currently the world’s second-largest economy and major trading partner to most of the countries in the region, the fallout from China’s downturn could be extremely damaging, hitting sectors from commodities to property, curbing investment flows and likely dragging down the rest of the region with it. Comparing the prospect of “Grexit” compared to a China crisis, Bloomberg columnist William Pesek put it into perspective. “The world, after all, has had a few years to contemplate a Greek exit from the euro. B

INS Vishal ( Credits- You Tube screen capture) Source- The Diplomat Author- Ankit Panda India’s second indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC-2), the INS Vishal, the second Vikrant-class carrier, is slowly taking shape. Recently, the Indian Navy outlined the specifications of this carrier in a letter of request issued to shipbuilders worldwide. Many of the details, including the tonnage and the physical dimensions of the carrier, are in line with older expectations. For example, the Vishal will displace 65,000 tonnes—25,000 tonnes more than the first indigenous carrier, the INS Vikrant. The Indian Navy’s Naval Design Bureau clarified other features: the carrier will travel at 30 knots, a hair above the Vikrant, and come in at a length of 300 meters, longer than the 262 meter Vikrant. The Navy’s letter of request also outlines plans for the carrier to field between 30 and 35 fixed-wing combat aircraft and 20 rotary wing aircraft. In many ways, though this carrier will be the

The CGI of INS Vikrant ( Source- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Srikar Kashyap) Source- The National Interest Author- Zachary Keck India’s Navy has outlined the some of the specifications for a second indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC-2) in a letter of request to global shipbuilders. According to several Indian newspapers, last week India’s Navy sent out a Letter of Request to four global shipbuilding companies asking for help in designing India’s second indigenous aircraft carrier. The LoR specifies that India would like to build a 300-meter long aircraft carrier that displaces 65,000 tons. The Navy also said that the ship should be able to travel at 30 knots. In addition, the LoR says that the aircraft carrier will carry 30-35 fixed wing combat aircraft and about 20 rotary wing aircraft. In contrast to India’s existing aircraft carriers, which utilize ski-jump launch systems, the LoR for IAC-2 says the ship will have a catapult launched but arrested landing

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe  ( Source- Wikimedia Commons / Author- United States Embassy, Tokyo) Source- The Diplomat Author- Franz Stefan-Gady Today, the cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe approved the 2015 defense white paper compiled by the Ministry of Defense entitled “Defense of Japan 2015.” The approval came after a week-long delay due the Liberal Democratic Party’s demand for the document to name additional examples of China’s “one-sided” maritime actions, such as the construction of an offshore gas platform in the East China Sea. China’s naval ambitions and its overall maritime activities remain Japan’s top national security concern. Beijing’s activities take up a third of a section in the 429-page white paper discussing Tokyo’s security concerns and trends. ”China, particularly over maritime issues, continues to act in an assertive manner, including coercive attempts at changing the status quo, and is poised to fulfill its unilateral demands

INS Sahyadiri ( Source- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Saberwyn) Source- The Diplomat Author- Prashanth Parameswaran Indian Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R.K. Dhowan will be paying a five-day visit to Singapore and Thailand this week in a bid to strengthen naval cooperation and boost India’s ‘Act East Policy’ in the region, according to an official government statement seen by The Diplomat. Since Narendra Modi took office last year, India has been attempting to further boost cooperation with Southeast Asian states as part of its ‘Act East Policy’, a variation on the ‘Look East Policy’ first formulated under Narasimha Rao in 1991. As I have noted before, the Modi government’s use of the ‘Act East Policy’ is designed to signal a more action-oriented policy toward Southeast Asia (See: “Modi Unveils India’s ‘Act East Policy’ to ASEAN in Myanmar”). This applies to defense relations as well, and Dhowan’s trip is being publicized as a case in point. In Singapore, Dhowan will