NEW DELHI–The United States is planning to establish multiple naval logistics hubs in India for the resupplying and maintenance of its naval vessels in the South Asian region. Experts say this will enhance the Unites States’ maritime dominance, and help to counter Chinese expansionism in the Indo-Pacific.
The move is also seen as U.S. assistance toward building India’s infrastructure in the maritime domain, and was announced immediately after the two nations created the India-United States Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) in late June—which coincided with Indian PM Narendra Modi’s first-ever state visit to Washington.
“And so we intend to support India in the creation of logistics, repair, and maintenance infrastructure for aircraft and ships,” said Brig. Gen. Ryder.
Retired Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha, the former Chief of India’s Integrated Defense Staff, told The Epoch Times in a written message that the U.S. navy had previously signed an agreement with Larsen and Toubro shipyard close to the southern Indian port city of Chennai, and that U.S. Navy ships are already being docked and repaired at the facility.
“Further repair and refit agreements have been signed during the P.M.’s transformational visit to the U.S. During these refits, a number of components/parts are either serviced or replaced,” said Vice Admiral Sinha, adding that such replacements can vary from consumables to major components depending on what is required.
For the refitting of ships, he said that there are standard lists of components in U.S. maintenance manuals that need replacement based on their condition or on their service lifetime, which in turn is a function of time in service or running hours.
“Ships are like cities,” said Vice Admiral Sinha, “where men live and also handle weapons and electronic systems to be battle-worthy. The logistics support in terms of engineering and naval stores necessitates large inventories [that must] be kept in a controlled climate. Therefore, large hangars with air conditioned compartments are needed.”
Additionally, these inventories are specific to the types of ships that are expected to be refitted and repaired and, as such, are quite exhaustive and must be maintained by personnel specialized in logistics management, he said.
Brig. Gen. Ryder said the plan is part of a wide-ranging strategic partnership between India and the United States in which defense and security cooperation have become central to the strategic relationship.
“And the focus here is really on a continued commitment to defense cooperation, to promote regional security and stability, not only in the Indo-Pacific region but globally,” he said.
Background
Former Vice Admiral Sinha said that the American plans to set up naval hubs in India are the fruits of the Logistic Exchange Memorandum Of Agreement (LEMOA) signed in 2016 between the Indian armed forces and the United States. This agreement defines basic terms, conditions, procedures for logistical support, supplies, and services.The Indian and American navies started bilateral naval exercises called the “Malabar Exercises” in 1992. The Australian navy joined in 2000, while Japan joined the exercises in 2015. Vice Admiral Sinha said that since India and the U.S. have “Malabar” and LEMOA in place, it’s apt to have the logistics hub in the vicinity of a major shipyard.
“Being a MALABAR partner, U.S. Navy ships will be operating in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. It makes sense to store the ... inventory in the vicinity of the [Chennai] shipyard where refits are to take place—it will cut short the logistics chain and provide what is needed during refits,” he said.
Countering China
Part of the U.S. plan to set up naval hubs in India has been borne of countering increasing Chinese presence in the Indo-Pacific.A visiting India fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and an affiliate of the SOAS South Asia Institute in London, Burzine Waghmar, told The Epoch Times in an email that the recent strategic agreements between India and the United States represent the 2 countries joint response to the twin threats from China—terrestrial and marine.
Chinese presence in the Indian ocean and around the Indian terrestrial territory has been going on for years, and Waghmar pointed out increasing Chinese assertiveness in the region. One example he gave was the recent incident whereby China submitted Sinitic names for nine seabeds in the western Indian Ocean to the International Hydrographic Organisation.
“China, since 1994, leased from Myanmar and maintains a signal intelligence (SIGINT) station on Great Coco Island, 180 km off the southern Burmese coast in the Bay of Bengal, and a small People’s Liberation Army (PLA) base is on Small Coco Island in the Alexandra Channel, north of the Andaman islands,” he said.
The distance between the Coco Islands and the Indian islands of Andaman and Nicobar (AN) is just 237 miles, while between the AN islands and Chennai is 842 miles. AN is also one of the bases used in the Malabar Exercises.
Waghmar said numerous other Chinese SIGINT stations are located all along the Burmese coast, including Sittwe in the western Arakan state. These provide Beijing intelligence coverage from the Bay of Bengal to the Strait of Malacca—all along India’s crucial eastern seaboard.
“That Chinese presence in the Bay of Bengal already monitors Indian missile launches and naval movements in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, as well as Indian shipping bound for southeast Asia and Australia,” Mr. Waghmar said.
“While QUAD is completely economic in nature, Malabar is to tackle traditional and non-traditional threats,” he said.
“Let’s have this clarity that conjoining Quad with Malabar is a possibility in future, but much will depend on how quickly China catalyses this by its aggressive behavior.”
Brig. Gen. Ryder said much more will follow in the days ahead between India and the United States. “That is obviously something that will be important as we work together to preserve a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
