Anyone within range of China's expanding navy will have to build capabilities faster and/or work more closely with the US, as Australia has just announced, asserts T N Ninan.
Cementing its strategic partnership with Seychelles, India on Wednesday signed four agreements with the Indian Ocean island nation to boost security and maritime partnership.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday conveyed to US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin India's concerns over Washington's decision to provide sustenance package for Pakistan's F-16 fighter jet fleet.
The India-Japan joint naval exercises are a strategic signal for China, observes Dr Rajaram Panda.
According to observers, with pro-China Rajapaksa winning the election, the result will have a bearing on India's presence in the Indian Ocean region where Beijing is increasingly making inroads.
India's national security strategy needs to be revised periodically since the global and regional geopolitical situation is dynamic, points out Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
Rainfall in August is predicted to be below normal (less than 94 per cent of LPA), but the situation is expected to improve comparatively in September, the IMD said.
After objections raised by the defence forces, India rejected China's request for permission to allow its four warships to enter the Indian maritime zone to search for the missing Malaysian airliner.
The Indian Navy is fully capable of defending the nation against any form of threat, Sitharaman said.
A list of lesser-travelled destinations in India that you must explore this year!
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled his demise, saying Kumar contributed towards strengthening the country's maritime security.
The Indian Navy described it as a "proud and historic" day for the nation and said India has joined a select group of countries having niche capability to indigenously design, build and integrate a state-of-the-art aircraft carrier.
Naik said the prompt and effective deployment of the Navy in the time of crisis has underscored India's vision of being the "preferred security partner and first responder in our region".
Taking a dig at China, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said 'some irresponsible nations' with their narrow partisan interests and hegemonic tendencies are coming up with wrong definitions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The agreement provides for creation of an enabling framework for closer cooperation and interoperability, besides allowing militaries of the two countries to use each other's bases and facilities for repair and replenishment of supplies, the official said.
In his opening remarks at the talks, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh asserted that India is confident of overcoming the challenges with a strong political will and an inherent capability of its people.
The Global Hawk can carry out surveillance of a stretch of land or ocean for over 30 hours continuously, physically scanning up to 100,000 sq km each day.
The Sittwe deal is more significant than Chabahar in Iran, where India has rights to operate only two terminals and not the port itself.
China's embassy in Colombo has sought an urgent meeting with senior Sri Lankan authorities after Colombo sought a deferment of the planned docking of a high-tech Chinese research vessel at the strategic Hambantota port over which India raised concerns, sources said.
Accounted for 18.8 per cent of total imports in the region in 2010 vs Singapore, which contributed 17.8 per cent.
While Narendra Modi spent fewer days abroad than his predecessor -- 275 days versus Dr Singh's 306 - he has travelled more widely than any other Indian PM.
'With the recent challenging of the notion of the Indian Ocean Region being India's strategic backyard, China is gradually upping the ante in the maritime realm around India.'
A Regional Meteorological Centre bulletin said a cyclonic circulation is now seen over the Comorin area and its neighbourhood, extending up to mid tropospheric levels.
'We have to be prepared on the borders to withstand Chinese expansionist designs.'
With inadequacies in the Russian MiG-29Ks that India bought to operate off the INS Vikramaditya and INS Vikrant, the acquisition of a capable, long-range multi-role carrier-based fighters will be critical for India's naval power.
'As far as acquisition of Russian equipment is concerned, with about 70% of Indian military equipment being of Russian origin, a sudden decision to abandon imports from Russia is not feasible,' points out Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
Three weeks after India handed over a coastal radar system to the Maldives, Admiral Radhakrishnan Hari Kumar, chief of the naval staff, met Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and other senior leaders of the island nation in its capital Male with a focus on further boosting the bilateral defence ties.
Aman Kumar Sharma from Himachal Pradesh, an Indian national, was among the 11 crew members of a ship freed after being held hostage for nearly four years by Somali pirates, with a top United Nations official calling for the release of all remaining captives.
'... To ensure that the vast Indian Ocean Region remain peaceful.'
'Does 99 percent guarantee character and capacity for an independent awareness of life or does it make you -- barring exceptions -- a compliant careerist beholden to governments and corporations?' 'What kind of political and social choices would such minds make?' asks Shyam G Menon.
US envoy Eric Garcetti on Thursday said he respects that India likes its "strategic autonomy", but in times of conflict, there is no such thing as strategic autonomy, even as he pitched for forging a stronger partnership between New Delhi and Washington.
INS Tihayu, specifically built for meeting needs of extended coastal and offshore surveillance and patrol, has a length of 49.9 metres and maximum breadth of 7.5 meters.
The United States Navy carried out a freedom of navigation operation in the Indian waters near Lakshadweep Islands on Wednesday without New Delhi's prior consent to challenge India's "excessive" maritime claims, according to an official statement.
'When there is a change in the wind speed or the stress exerted on the surface, it will change the ocean currents.'
Reports (not denied by India) that the USA had 'for the first time provided real-time details to their Indian counterparts on the Chinese positions and force strength in advance of a PLA incursion' into Tawang at the LAC in December 2022, helping India thwart China's expansionist designs, show how operationally effective the USA-India friendship has become on the ground. A engaging excerpt from Sreeram Chaulia's must-read new book, Friends: India's Closest Strategic Partners.
Along with Modi, senior BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar, all ministers in Modi 2.0 Cabinet, took oath as cabinet ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In all, 71 ministers were sworn-in along with Modi, taking the strength of the Union council to 72.
Indian policymakers must realise that in buying small quantities of equipment, it becomes hard to start manufacturing them in India, explains Ajai Shukla.
The senior defence official, however, refrained from describing the kind of responses that the two countries would respond to their common challenges.
The IMD said that rainfall over India in August and September would be around 106 percent of the long-period average of 422.8 mm.
A number of other frontline ships, submarines and fighter jets of the three countries will be part of the over week-long drill in the Bay of Bengal which is taking place in the backdrop of a major military face-off between armies of India and China in the Sikkim section.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances