Sixty years ago, in 1965, when Pakistan attacked India for the second time since its painful birth by British midwifery in 1947, the Indian government was downright ‘sea-blind’. But in that war, Pakistan Navy launched Operation Dwarka, also known as Operation Somnath, which targeted the Indian coastal town of Dwarka, resulting in the only fatal casualty of a cow.

When Pakistan attacked India for the third time in December 1971, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gave the Indian Navy’s (IN) Chief, Admiral SM Nanda, who was itching to participate, the green signal to do so. Nanda, who had grown up near Karachi and knew it inside out, planned for the Indian Navy to launch Operations Trident and Python, which resulted in Pakistani naval assets in and around Karachi being destroyed and most of its coast getting blockaded. IN also launched an ingenious covert operation in the Bay of Bengal disabling over 100,000 tonnes of shipping destined for the ports of erstwhile East Pakistan.

During 1999, when Pakistan Army launched its Kargil misadventure, IN conducted its summer exercise in the Arabian Sea, India’s western seaboard, reminding Pakistan how it could be blockaded again. The Pakistan Army packed off from Kargil heights in a hurry.

SAGAR and IOR security

In the last two decades or so, IN has been a strategic rival to the Chinese navy, which has been overactive in the South China Sea, Indo-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region.

Over the past ten years, since 2015 or so, IN has deepened its partnerships with maritime agencies of Indian Ocean Region (IOR) to enhance maritime security in consonance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR). IN has been collaborating with navies of IOR countries on several initiatives by way of joint naval exercises, coordinated patrols, sharing of information, HADR (humanitarian and disaster relief) efforts, capacity building and other diplomatic engagements. 

With SAGAR entering its second decade, Modi during his visit to Mauritius in March 2025, announced the further concept of Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security Across the Regions (MAHASAGAR) by the IN launching its maiden initiatives of: (a)Indian Ocean Ship (IOS) Sagar and (b) the Africa India Key Maritime Engagement (AIKEYME), which means unity in Sanskrit), which are aimed at consolidating Indian Navy’s stature as the ‘Preferred Security Partner’ and ‘First Responder’ in Indian Ocean Region. In the past few days, IN has yet again been the first responder, along with Indian Army, providing speedy assistance to Myanmar following the 28 March 2025 earthquakes.

IOS Sagar and IOR

Indian Ocean Ship (IOS) Sagar is an initiative to further maritime cooperation with IOR nations. INS Sunayna is being deployed to the southwest IOR with a combined crew of India and nine FFCs (friendly foreign countries), viz Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and South Africa. The ship is planned to be deployed for over a month in April 2025 and would be undertaking port calls at Dar-es-Salaam, Nacala, Port Louis, Port Victoria and Male and Joint surveillance of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of Tanzania, Mozambique, Mauritius and Seychelles.

About 44 trainees of the nine friendly countries are undergoing a training capsule of two weeks at various naval professional schools at Kochi, Kerala. The specially curated training capsule ranges from basic seamanship activities to state-of-the-art simulator training, various facets of communication skills, firefighting and damage control drills, visit board search and seize (VBSS) procedures and finer aspects of bridgemanship.. The sea training was aimed at acclimatising the international crew with Indian Navy’s systems and procedures enabling them to operate as a well-knit and cohesive unit during their deployment. IOS Sagar has turned out to be a unique example of fostering deeper maritime understanding and promoting regional stability and cooperation. Indian Navy's collaboration with the foreign navies reaffirms its commitment to safeguarding collective maritime interests and capacity building with partner nations across the IOR. Participants of IOS Sagar will also witness harbour phase activities of Exercise AIKEYME at Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.

Multilateral maritime engagement

Having decided to give importance to maritime security, India and Africa reiterated their commitment to increase cooperation in tackling maritime security threats such as piracy, illegal activities including trafficking, unregulated and unreported fishing through sharing of information and surveillance. A multilateral maritime engagement with African countries, AIKEYME is an initiative to enhance interoperability with the respective navies/ maritime agencies. The maiden edition of the six-day exercise being co-hosted by Indian Navy and Tanzania Peoples’ Defence Force (TPDF) will be conducted at/ off Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania in mid-April 2025 and will include participation from Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles and South Africa in addition to the co-hosts. The Harbour Phase of the exercise will include tabletop and command post exercises on piracy and sharing of information, along with training on seamanship and visit board search and seizure. The sea phase comprises seamanship, search and rescue, VBSS, small arms firing and helicopter operations.

Over the past decades, Indian Navy's maritime training institutions have trained over 20,000 officers and sailors from over 50 friendly foreign countries, imparting ab initio training and trade specific professional courses enhancing maritime expertise and capability.

(The author, a strategic affairs analyst, is a former Defence Ministry and Indian Army spokesperson. Views expressed are personal. He can be reached at wordsword02@gmail.com )