India’s military: heart’s in the right place, but acquisition is not

ARTICLE: “Land of Gandhi Asserts Itself as Global Military Power,” by Anand Giridharadas, New York Times, 22 September 2008.

Starts by noting ship-boarding exercise, and then extrapolates a bit boldly to India refashioning itself “as an armed power with global reach,” which turns out to mean the Indian ocean and the PG but not really anything else.

No doubt of India’s rise or the natural ambition of its navy. Hell, I wrote that piece (“India’s 12 Steps to a World-Class Navy”), much to the delight of its naval establishment, more than seven years ago. But my point there, using the 12 steps program of Alcoholics Anonymous (a trick I resurrect in Great Powers) was to highlight how India’s logical global naval ambitions were held captive, in terms of acquisition, to its ground-forces mafia that remains—to this day—totally wrapped around the axle called Kashmir.

This article acknowledges that little change has occurred in that realm, so we have the vision but not yet the resources, which equates—as the old Pentagon saw goes—to hallucination but not grand strategy.

Clearly, India’s navy stepped up big time on the Christmas tsunamis a few years back, and in 2006 did a classic NEO (non-combatant evacuation operation) in Lebanon. But these remain essentially baby steps.

So the acquisition money and planning impulse still remain with the ground forces, even as India begins to recognize the disjuncture between that mindset and its emerging economic interests around the globe. In my mind, then, India remains a rising power whose power projection capabilities are still worth shaping.

As the article also argues, much of this push comes in response to China’s own naval expansion. Like India, China’s military remains myopically focused on a border situation—Taiwan, but in this instance there is plenty of opportunity for the PLAN (People’s Liberation Army Navy) to mine—pun intended.

Thus another example why we should target the PLA first and foremost as a strategic ally and garner India’s attention in the process. Between them, we’re talking a lot of natural ambition to run things in the Indian Ocean and Central Asia—for now, with that ambition naturally expanding over time to include the PG over oil and gas.

Sounds very good for the U.S.—if those capabilities are harnessed to some larger grand strategic vision.

Comments

[Fred Zimmerman]

The key issue for the Indian Navy is that a big Indian Navy only makes sense if they are totally committed to their alliance with the US.

There is no point in investing in a big Indian Navy if their objective is to deter the US Navy from acting to protect its vital interests in the Indian Ocean (*not* Pakistan), because in any realistic "Powell doctrine" scenario the USN puts 4 or 5 CVNs and 8 or 10 SSNs in the Indian Ocean, flies B-2s from Guam with PGMs, and that's game over for the Indian Navy. Why waste time building a big Navy just to have it sunk?

On the other hand, if your objective is to make sure that China doesn't threaten the Malacca straits, and to project power as part of "the 1000 ship Navy", a big Indian Navy makes a lot of sense.

[Ted O'Connor]

In the last two months I have have been talking to a lot of intelligent and well educated young people. Mostly about the election but the conversations have also included the future of the country that they are going to inherit. I have heard many of them questioning our role as the world's policeman. These are young men and women who need to pay off hefty college loans and try and figure out how they are going to live as well as their parents (my generation). Also, these young people have much more experience living abroad. Many studied for a year in another country and some have worked in another country. They seem to "get" the connectivity that is harder for my generation to understand. What I am detecting is not "pacifism" but it is definitely a strong reluctance on their part to continue our long reach militarily. My generation went overseas wearing a uniform and carrying a gun. These younger Americans believe that other countries are capable of taking care of their own business. One other recurring theme I have heard from them is that all our power and all our might did not prevent 911. We might have aircraft carriers in the Indian Ocean but I still had to take off my shoes and my belt to get on my flight to Portland last week.