Andaman military base gears for energy security role

India
Andaman military base gears for energy security role
By IANS, Mar 23, 2007 - 7:47:20 PM

Port Blair, March 23 - India's southernmost military base that lies closer to the country's littoral states than the mainland, is gearing itself for an energy security role in the Indian Ocean, even as it hopes to further New Delhi's Look East policy.

Located in this capital of the Andaman and Nicobar chain, a cluster of 572 islands that extend in a 720-km long chain, some 1,200 km off the southern and eastern coasts, the military base guards an area that comprises just 0.2 percent of the country's land mass but is tasked with protecting a whopping 30 percent of its exclusive economic zone -.

Toward this end, the Andaman and Nicobar Command - envisages a major ramping up of its assets by permanently deploying at some stage fighter aircraft, as also creating infrastructure to enable the docking of large naval vessels.

'This is the place where the action will be,' the ANC head, Air Marshal P.P. Raj Kumar, told reporters here, a day ahead of a visit by Defence Minister A.K. Antony to study first hand the strategic location of the base.

The ANC is also India's first tri-services command, which means it has under its wing assets from all three wings of the armed forces, as also the coast guard. Its chief is drawn by rotation from the army, the navy and the air force.

The ANC, which also includes an element from the coast guard, had played a stellar role in the wake of the devastating Dec 26, 2004 tsunami that ravaged the islands by providing succour to its inhabitants and also to countries like Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives that too were badly affected.

'The reason we were able to do this so effectively was because we are a tri-services command. Thus, there were no problems of coordination that usually arise on such occasions,' ANC deputy chief Rear Admiral P.V. Nair pointed out.

During his visit, Antony will witness first hand the interoperability the three services have achieved as they conduct a series of exercises, including amphibious landings by soldiers with ships and aircraft providing close support.

'There is the question of protecting the EEZ. There is also the question of guarding the approaches to the Malacca Straits -,' Kumar added.

'The ANC also has the unique responsibility, in consonance with India's Look East policy, of reaching out to the defence forces of India's maritime neighbours and building bridges of friendship,' he pointed out.

Speaking about the importance of the SEZ for India's energy security, Kumar said that with oil and gas having been discovered in the seabed on the Myanmarese side of the zone, 'it is only a matter of time before similar discoveries are made on our side.'

India's exploration major Oil and Natural Gas Corporation - has, under the New Exploration Licensing Policy - 2005-07, already invited bids for two exploration blocks off the eastern coast of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and prospecting is expected to begin soon.

'There is also the question of transporting the oil and gas that will be found. Whether this is done by tankers or through a seabed pipeline, this route will have to be made secure,' Kumar pointed out.

To hone its skills in these areas, as also to counter sea piracy and terrorist activities, the ANC regularly conducts joint exercises with the navies of Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, as also the larger Milan exercise, the 2006 edition of which saw the participation of 20 vessels from eight countries, including Australia.

The ANC began life in February 1964 as the naval base INS Jarawa, named after one of the tribes that inhabit the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. By the end of 1976, the base had expanded with the addition of another naval station and a coast guard station, and the induction of a 900-men army infantry battalion.

INS Jarawa was re-christened Fortress Andaman and Nicobar - in 1981 and this saw the addition of a third naval station, an increase in army strength to brigade - level and the addition of an air wing.

In 2000, a panel that studied the conduct of the Kargil War with Pakistan the previous year recommended that FORTAN be converted into a tri-services command to enable better coordination between the armed forces both in times of peace and during war.

ANC came into being in October 2001, its first head being Vice Admiral Arun Prakash, who eventually rose to be the Indian Navy chief.

'Ours is a unique feature of the armed forces,' Nair said of the experience of the past six years, adding 'what we have done here can be replicated across the spectrum of the defence forces.'

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