By Rupert Herbert-Burns – This brief offers a review of key naval developments in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) during the first quarter of 2012. Events have been dominated by extensive Iranian naval manoeuvres and deployments out of area, the US Navy’s force surge in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea, and the expansion of EU coalition forces’ counter-piracy strategy to include potential land attacks against pirate targets on the Somali coast.
Separately, though the long-term pace of growth and modernization of the Indian navy is difficult to forecast (particularly the sustained development of its aircraft carrier program), the addition of a leased Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine into the fleet armed with land-attack cruise missiles now provides India with a step-change in maritime power-projection capability.
Stimson Analysis: Indian Ocean Naval Activity
In Energy, Water & Oceans
By Rupert Herbert-Burns – This brief offers a review of key naval developments in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) during the first quarter of 2012. Events have been dominated by extensive Iranian naval manoeuvres and deployments out of area, the US Navy’s force surge in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea, and the expansion of EU coalition forces’ counter-piracy strategy to include potential land attacks against pirate targets on the Somali coast.
Separately, though the long-term pace of growth and modernization of the Indian navy is difficult to forecast (particularly the sustained development of its aircraft carrier program), the addition of a leased Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine into the fleet armed with land-attack cruise missiles now provides India with a step-change in maritime power-projection capability.
Click here to read more and download the full report.
Photo Credit: US Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class James Evans, via Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/anhonorablegerman/7099967725/