10 Indian Navy’s warships stationed in Arabian Sea

India has now deployed over 10 frontline warships with marine commandos in the region stretching from the north and central Arabian Sea to the Gulf of Aden, further stepping-up its naval presence to show the flag and deter piracy and drone strikes.

The warships deployed include guided-missile destroyers like INS Kolkata, INS Kochi, INS Chennai and INS Mormugao as well as multi-role frigates like INS Talwar and INS Tarkash. The Navy and the Indian Coast Guard are also closely coordinating the enhanced surveillance of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

Regular ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) missions are also being flown by P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft and unarmed MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones, both of which are capable of providing 'live feeds’ of high-resolution imagery with their electro-optic and other advanced sensors, from the west coast.

While the Indian Navy may not be part of 'Operation Prosperity Guardian' in the Red Sea, there is 'continuous sharing of information and coordination' with all navies of 'friendly foreign countries', including the US, UK and France, to bolster overall maritime security and domain awareness.

The Gurgaon based Navy's Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC), which takes feeds from multiple sources ranging from coastal radars to satellites to assess threats in the Indian Ocean Region, and the Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) in Gurugram, which has international liaison officers from over a dozen nations, also plays a key role in this.

"The Navy’s 'mission-based deployments' in the region enable rapid responses to emerging security challenges," the officer said. India, incidentally, has been regularly deploying warships on anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden since October 2008, with around 110 such vessels being deployed for it since then.