INP-WealthPk

Eye on China, India expands naval footprint in Indian Ocean

October 25, 2017

NEW DELHI, Oct 25 (INP): The Indian Navy is ramping up its new "mission-based deployments" in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Malacca Strait, with warships on round-the-clock patrols to meet any operational eventuality from conventional threats and maritime terrorism. There are 12 to 15 destroyers, frigates, corvettes and large patrol vessels on long-range deployments in the IOR at any given time now, which are backed by naval satellite Rukmini (GSAT-7) and daily sorties by Poseidon-8I maritime patrol aircraft to keep tabs over the vast oceanic expanse. INP/AH