India expects piracy attacks to rise
Last week, an Indian warship rushed to the aid of merchant vessel Islander in the Gulf of Aden after it was hit by a drone, injuring a member of its crew
Senior Indian officials believe that piracy incidents on commercial ships in the Arabian and Red Sea by pirates and Iran-backed Houthi rebels are set to rise. These incidents are also stretching Indian Navy’s capabilities as it is keeping up with increased deployment in the region.
Last week, an Indian warship rushed to the aid of merchant vessel Islander in the Gulf of Aden after it was hit by a drone, injuring a member of its crew. An explosive disposal team boarded the vessel before it was cleared for onward transit, an Indian Navy spokesperson said.
These incidences were also the part of the talks between US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and his Indian counterpart EAM S Jaishankar at the Munich Security Conference. According to a statement, Blinken described the two countries’ approach as “mutually reinforcing”.
Due to the increased piracy in this region, the Indian Navy has also deployed a dozen warships alongside long-range surveillance maritime aircrafts and drones to monitor around 4 million square kilometres of the Arabian Sea.
In the past months since November, there have been as many as 8 hijacking attempts and one successful hijacking according to unnamed officials. Officials have said that even though piracy attempts have dropped due to bombing by the British and US against Houthi targets in Yemen, Indian Navy will need to continue its enhanced operations against pirates.
“The Indian Navy has done a very impressive job of maintaining a high tempo of operations in the region — and its role has been noticed and generally welcomed by the international community,” said Anit Mukerjee, a senior lecturer of South Asian security issues at Kings College, London. He warned though that it “is an open question” whether the Navy can maintain the deployments and tempo of operations given its limited resources. The Indian Navy and Ministry of Defence has yet not commented on this matter.
Meanwhile, the Indian Navy is trying to add new anti-piracy capabilities with marine commandos with motorized crafts parachuting into the Arabian Sea from a US-made C-130 transport plane, earlier this week.
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