In an era of shifting geopolitical dynamics and increased maritime activity, India's strategic emphasis on strengthening its maritime diplomacy demands a thorough grasp of Underwater Domain Awareness. This issue brief addresses the importance of such a phenomenon in strengthening India's maritime security and diplomatic efforts in the face of regional and global threats.
Underwater Domain Awareness and India
Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA) remains crucial to India’s extensive maritime interests, spanning across the vast Indian Ocean Region (IOR). UDA is said to be a composite mixture of technologies, strategies and policies designed to keep watch over everything under the sea. Importantly, India’s maritime interests go far beyond purely economic aspects; these involve national security considerations, regional stability objectives and environmental sustainability aspirations.
The Indian Ocean is often called the “Indian lifeline” as it carries nearly eighty percent of its petroleum imports and a substantial amount of trade, anchoring it to energy security and economic growth. Hence, the importance of UDA in India cannot be exaggerated. It is important to have a strong UDA framework that considers the changing nature of maritime threats and challenges, including piracy, terrorism, interstate conflicts and other emerging non-traditional issues like climate change impacts, illegal fishing and marine pollution. Monitoring maritime activities in India through UDA helps authorities detect possible security risks and respond promptly to new crises.
India’s maritime security landscape is changing, owing to the fact that there is a great realisation regarding the strategic importance of its maritime environment. Being a country with vast coastlines as well as wide-ranging strategic interests in the Indian Ocean, India realises the necessity of underwater surveillance capabilities.
In such a context, developing and deploying Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) has become an important strategy for India[i]. These advanced technologies include Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicles (ROUVs) and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), which are equipped with sophisticated sensors and cameras, allowing India to access vital information on subsea activities like ship movements or any potential threat.[ii] Furthermore, partnerships between both state-run institutions such as the Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO) and private companies like Larsen & Toubro (L&T) highlight India’s concerted efforts to reinforce its maritime security apparatus. The introduction of UUVs like MAYA, AMOGH and ADAMYA demonstrates India’s commitment to embracing cutting-edge technologies aimed at boosting its underwater defence capabilities.[iii] Besides an unprecedented endurance and operational depth for ADAMYA, it represents a huge leap, providing outstanding underwater surveillance flexibility for the Indian Navy and the most efficient reconnaissance systems for underwater missions.
Commencing the Integrated Underwater Harbour Defence and Surveillance System (IUHDSS) at Naval Jetty Port Blair marks a significant step in India’s maritime security architecture[iv]. This modern security device, capable of discovering, identifying and tracking both surface and underwater threats, enhances the safety of strategic naval facilities by guarding them against possible attacks from the sea. In a move to enhance its surveillance reach across the seas, India’s decision to equip MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones with sonobuoys is indicative of the nation’s staying ahead in a changing maritime environment.[v] Sonobuoys are vital for detecting submarines and underwater objects.
India’s maritime security infrastructure consists of an extensive network of naval bases, dockyards, air stations, coastal surveillance radar systems, underwater listening posts and forward operating bases. These positioned assets enable India to watch out for and respond rapidly to any threat emerging from the sea, thereby providing secure waters. Besides this, India has also made laws and regulations to govern marine activities and ensure effective UDA amidst technological advancements and infrastructure development. The Indian Maritime Zones Act 1976, Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and Indian Coast Guard Act 1978 are some of the statutes that form the legal framework for maritime surveillance and enforcement, enhancing the maritime security architecture of India.[vi]
India’s adherence to international maritime conventions and agreements further affirms its commitment to global maritime governance and cooperation. India's active collaboration with other countries to bolster maritime awareness establishes it as a responsible stakeholder in the surrounding seas, thereby fostering regional stability and security.
Challenges for India
India is confronted with a multitude of challenges as it seeks to augment maritime security through the enhancement of its UDA capabilities. As India builds its capacity for UDA, it requires resources such as cutting-edge technology, funds, and professional personnel to effectively carry out surveillance. Moreover, with a coastline stretching over 7,500 kilometres and an extensive Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the task of monitoring such vast maritime boundaries is daunting. Additionally, India's current significant reliance on foreign technology for underwater monitoring devices poses potential issues, including delays and compatibility problems. Furthermore, geopolitical tensions add complexity to the country’s attempts at maritime security, such as the incidents where Chinese submarines have entered the Indian Ocean region. Additionally, seasonal monsoons and underwater topography can complicate surveillance activities, but a lack of coordination between agencies responsible for maritime security impairs cooperation efficiency.
After the 26/11 Mumbai incident, Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) became a crucial aspect of India’s strategic security discourse. While MDA primarily aims at ensuring the governance of seas for security reasons, it also holds potential for additional benefits. These include opportunities in the blue economy and environmental management, which contribute to holistic and sustainable maritime development.
Despite its potential, UDA remains confined to the sea surface due to specialized acoustic requirements and challenges presented by tropical environments. Modelling and simulation (M&S) may be used for such improvements, but they require resource-intensive digital transformations and experimental validations. Military maritime strategies cannot succeed in the case of fragmented maritime governance and governance gaps that continue to exist without an all-encompassing maritime strategy.
Opportunities for India
Improving UDA in maritime security enhances India’s maritime security posture and offers plenty of room to flourish its maritime diplomacy. Improved UDA capabilities are vital for Indian diplomatic goals, as mentioned below:
First, the effective development of advanced UDA systems leads to increased situational awareness, which is fundamental to understanding the dynamics of the maritime domain in the Indian Ocean region. This understanding is essential for fostering constructive dialogue with neighbouring countries and other external actors regarding their respective maritime zones. Moreover, proactively managing maritime issues and pre-empting conflicts by detecting potential threats or incidents underwater at an early stage are some of the benefits derived from advanced UDA technology.
India’s strengthened UDA abilities are also a useful asset in developing security partnerships at sea with other nations. By helping them improve their naval actions, India can build trust and cooperation so that they can attain closer diplomatic relationships and collective responses to common maritime challenges. Additionally, better UDA encourages more information sharing with global and regional actors in the sector, which supports transparency as well as confidence-building measures. Sharing information about underwater activities, threats posed to the maritime domain and environmental concerns builds diplomatic relations and leads to collaboration on shared marine interests.
India is major stakeholder in maritime trade routes; thus, it could employ enhanced UDA capabilities to help secure vital waterways. By protecting commercial shipping lanes from threats, India enhances its diplomatic posture while reinforcing its reliability as a maritime actor, thus earning favour among trading partners. India shows its dedication as a custodian of the environment and sustainable development in the maritime domain by using the UDA to monitor and protect marine ecosystems. By employing this proactive strategy, countries can rally international support to fight against marine pollution, climate change impacts and biodiversity conservation through diplomatic channels.
Improved UDA also facilitates more efficient inter-agency coordination and cooperation among Search and Rescue (SAR) agencies at sea, resulting in India’s ability to offer immediate assistance to neighbouring states in difficult times. This good will, born out of joint SAR participation, helps India improve its diplomatic ties within the area.
Furthermore, India’s investments in UDA technology and research can also help scientific collaboration and ocean governance initiatives. Through data sharing and expertise in underwater exploration and research, India may undertake collective projects with other nations, leading to the contribution of scientific knowledge and the promotion of diplomatic ties. By extending support to partner countries in terms of skill-building and training initiatives for their maritime security forces, India can arm nations with the capability to enhance their own marine domain awareness, thereby strengthening relations and promoting regional security cooperation.
Lastly, through adhering to global maritime laws and regulations, India can campaign for a rules-based maritime order in diplomatic circles. Through UDA capabilities that can monitor and enforce compliance with maritime laws, India exemplifies its diplomatic dedication towards stability and security within the region.
Conclusion
India's maritime security and diplomatic influence in the Indian Ocean Region hinge on its focus on UDA. Although improvements in UDA technology enhance threat detection and response capacity, issues like resource restrictions, technical reliance and regional geopolitical conflicts persist. India should support international cooperation in UDA for knowledge and resource sharing, engage in indigenous technological development and strengthen the role of environmental sustainability in its marine policy to handle these. Including all stakeholders in a comprehensive UDA strategy would guarantee a strong maritime security system, supporting regional stability and India's position as a responsible maritime player.
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*Keshav Verma, Research Associate, Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi.
Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal.
Endnotes
[i] Rohan Ramesh, "India Is Now Focusing on Manufacturing Underwater Unmanned Vehicles," Force, https://forceindia.net/feature-report/mean-machines/.
[ii] "Design and Development of Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) for Inspection and Surveillance," India Science, Technology & Innovation, 2020,https://www.indiascienceandtechnology.gov.in/research/design-and-development-underwater-remotely-operated-vehicle-rov-inspection-and-surveillance.
[iii] Abhijit Singh, "The Promise and Pitfalls of Underwater Domain Awareness," War on the Rocks, 2023, https://warontherocks.com/2023/02/the-promise-and-pitfalls-of-underwater-domain-awareness/.
[iv] "The Hindu," "Precision Approach Radar, Underwater Harbour Defence and Surveillance System Inaugurated in Andaman and Nicobar Command," 2024, 2024, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/precision-approach-radar-underwater-harbour-defence-and-surveillance-system-inaugurated-in-andaman-and-nicobar-command/article67832507.ece.
[v] Vinay Sadham, "MQ-9B SeaGuardian: Anti-Submarine Drone for Indian Ocean," Bharat Shakti, 2024, https://bharatshakti.in/mq-9b-seaguardian-future-of-anti-submarine-warfare-in-indian-ocean/#google_vignette.
[vi] The Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and Other Maritime Zones Act, 1976, 1976, https://www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/1484/2/A1976-80.pdf.