Baaz to keep eye on Malacca Strait

Underlining its intent to tighten its grip on the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) in the face of an increasing influence of China, India on Tuesday activated its southernmost air base in the Andaman and Nicobar Island – INS Baaz – to keep an eye on economically and strategically important Malacca Strait, many a times strategic cargo for the Asian giant transit through it.

Baaz, literally meaning Eagle, will provide intelligence inputs based on ‘airborne’ maritime surveillance by dominating the Strait of Malacca and 6 degree channel – the waterways are crucial to the interests of many “global and regional powers” including China as most of their trade passes through these sea lines of communication. The naval airbase was commissioned by Indian Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma at Campbell Bay on Great Nicobar Island. 

Verma said that the activating INS Baaz in sync with the navy’s plan to augment capabilities in the archipelago, located 650 nautical miles from the Indian mainland. “The Navy has been progressively increasing the number of warships based at Port Blair, under the operational control of the Andaman and Nicobar. More are in the pipeline. Port Blair will be home for amphibious platforms, Naval Offshore Patrol Vessels and Fast Attack Craft, as the Navy’s robust acquisition plans progress,” Verma said in his address after opertionalising the base.

Besides the Campbell Bay air station the Government had recently sanctioned numerous steps to fortify infrastructure in the strategically located chain of Islands with forward operating bases in Kamorta (Nicobar Islands) and Diglipur (Andaman) as well. 

With China making an early entry into the IOR on the pretext of fighting piracy in the Gulf of Aden, the Indian Navy needs to  up its level by augmenting its capability in the region and enhance its relation with South East Asian and Asian countries.

Explaining this, Verma said: “The first policy push has been towards enhancing maritime engagement with South East Asian and East Asian countries. Many successful examples abound. Cooperative patrols with nations adjacent to the islands, like Thailand and Indonesia and Navy-to-Navy linkages with comparatively distant ASEAN nations, like Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, come instantly to mind.” 

“The geographic disposition of the archipelago, separated as it is by more than 650 nautical miles from our mainland, offers a vital geo-strategic advantage to India. Not only do they provide the nation with a commanding presence in the Bay of Bengal, the islands also serve as our window into East and South East Asia. India’s Look East policy has certainly benefited due to the proximity of this archipelago to many ASEAN states,” added the Navy Chief. Most of these countries have territorial disputes with China and a stronger relations with them are aimed at countering Beijing’ strategy of encircling India under “String of Pearls”.