Naval gazing

Naval gazing

The 70 warships from 30 countries which basked in Mumbai's hospitality for several days last week have gone leaving a puzzle behind. From the half dozen explanations for the International Fleet Review it is hard to find a good fit for an event which was part military display and part a display of friendship. The Indian Navy's ``bridges of friendship'' with the participating navies of other countries have undoubtedly been strengthened. Several interesting opportunities arose for other countries as well. Naval vessels of the US and Iran do not usually sit cheek by jowl as they did this February in the Arabian Sea. Morocco and Kenya made unusual trips to eastern waters and Bangladesh had a rare day out. Indian naval efficiency, particularly its security arrangements, came in for high praise from foreign naval commanders. But one would expect more than a public relations success for the time spent planning the review and the cost of thousands of crores of rupees. There were, moreover, major shortcomings in the PRdepartment. The absence of vessels from China and especially Pakistan was widely noted. Those are definitely areas where bridges need to be built and where navy to navy interchanges would be valuable. As for Mumbai, the review may have renewed the navy's bonds with the city but it also tested the people's patience and goodwill.

There could be something in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's view that it was all necessary to curb drug trafficking, gun running and piracy. These are major areas of concern for India and a number of other countries. India, Japan and other Asian countries have been engaged for some months in planning cooperative naval measures to counter the menace of piracy on the high seas and in coastal waters. Nevertheless, it does seem like overkill to bring 10,000 ton cruisers into Mumbai's harbour to signal serious intent to deal with pirates and gun-runners who typically operate in dhows or small motorised vessels in this region. Joint naval exercises, such as the Indian Navy has held with a few countries, would make more practical sense when particular kinds of operations are envisaged or when familiarity with each other's systems is sought. The review was essentially about sending out a different message. Military analysts are probably right when they say the main purpose behind this much heralded event was to project Indiannaval power and ambitions.

If that is the purpose, it is legitimate to ask what the real gains are and whether the expense is fully justified in the context of budgetary constraints and the navy's long shopping list for hardware. A long-standing naval complaint has been the shortage of funds for fleet upgradation and expansion. That situation has changed in the last few years and new classes of vessels have been acquired as also new equipment and more is in the pipeline. But two decades of lagging behind perceived requirements cannot be made up overnight. There is still some way to go before the navy can claim confidently to be a blue water navy and the wisdom of projecting power at this time is debatable.