Anti-Submarine Operations in the Indian Ocean

Malabar 2012

Image Credit: Official U.S. Navy Page

As India and Australia prepare to embark on their first-ever bilateral naval interaction in the Bay of Bengal this month, reports suggest the exercises will focus on anti-submarine warfare (ASW). This is being seen as evidence of a growing regional consensus on the threat posed by Chinese undersea operations in the Asian littorals. Australia is reported to be sending a Lockheed Martin’s P-3 anti-submarine reconnaissance aircraft, a Collins-class submarine, and ASW frigates, while India will be deploying a P-8 long-range anti-submarine aircraft, along with other surface assets.

Why Are Chinese and Russian Ships Prowling the Mediterranean?

 On May 11, nine ships from the Russian Navy and China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) kicked off 10 days of combined exercises in the Mediterranean Sea, for their first joint naval war games in European waters. What does this nautical confab, dubbed “Joint Sea 2015,” entail? “Maritime defense, maritime replenishment, escort actions, joint operations to safeguard navigation security as well as real weapon firing drill,” according to Sr. Col. Geng Yansheng, a spokesman for China’s Defense Ministry. The aim of the exercises is to “further deepen friendly and practical interaction between the two countries,” maintained the Russian Defense Ministry. Moscow added that the drills “are not aimed against any third country.”

Trimming the dragon's sails

There are few things more more mysterious in global geopolitics than China's maritime plans, especially in the context of the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. Embedded in these endeavours is Beijing's deep thinking into the development of maritime economics for two different purposes: reliving the past glory of the silk route, and developing the relatively under-developed provinces like Yunnan.

While China has been putting across its plans for a new maritime silk route, its recent actions are definitely in contravention to what it preaches for the region: peace and harmony through promotion of economic interests of all. The age-old suspicion between India and China ranges from border disputes to the recent damming of the Yarlung-Tsangpo river.

How to Rule the High Seas and Contain an Asian Country That Will Remain Nameless

Florentine philosopher-statesman Niccolò Machiavelli wrote that keeping pace with the times is the paramount challenge of statecraft. If so, the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, known collectively as the sea services, have embroiled themselves in a truly Machiavellian enterprise.

After a series of fits and starts, sea-service chiefs are preparing to release a “refreshed,” or revised, version of their 2007 Maritime Strategy. Put simply, maritime strategy is the art of using available means — ships, aircraft, ground-pounders, armaments — to fulfill national purposes. The updated strategy, accordingly, should provide clues to how the naval leadership sees the nautical world, and intends to cope with it amid finite and dwindling resources. Assessing that should indicate whether the services are fulfilling their Machiavellian duty to evolve in concert with the surrounding environment.

Managing unplanned encounters at sea

By Christian Le Mière, IISS Senior Fellow for Naval Forces and Maritime Security.

Asia-Pacific navies took a small step in confidence-building and safety at sea on 22 April 2014. At the 14^th meeting of the biennial Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS), the 21 member nations agreed to a Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES), a document that outlines the methods of communication for naval vessels and aircraft that meet unplanned beyond territorial waters.

CUES has been discussed since the 7^th WPNS in 2000. At the last WPNS, in Thailand in 2012, China was the only country that rejected CUES; this was because, according to Ding Yiping – deputy commander of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and presiding chairman of the 14^th WPNS – the word ‘code’ suggested a legally binding agreement. CUES is specifically a non-binding agreement that lays out how navies should interact at sea.

U.S. Naval Update Map

The Naval Update Map shows the approximate current locations of U.S. Carrier Strike Groups and Amphibious Ready Groups, based on available open-source information. No classified or operationally sensitive information is included in this weekly update. CSGs and ARGs are the keys to U.S. dominance of the world's oceans. A CSG is centered on an aircraft carrier, which projects U.S. naval and air power and supports a Carrier Air Wing, or CVW. The CSG includes significant offensive strike capability. An ARG is centered on three amphibious warfare ships, with a Marine Expeditionary Unit embarked. An MEU is built around a heavily reinforced and mobile battalion of Marines.