The maritime domain, hosting the highways of global prosperity—through trade, industrial raw material and energy links—rates high in its potential for conflict. As the global pendulum of economic vibrancy swings eastwards, the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) has been receiving increasing attention from all actors, state as well as non-state ones, and now presents itself in sharp focus as one of the volatile seascapes on this earth. The navies operating in the region will, therefore, need to depend on high technology and associated doctrines and procedures, so as to effectively deal with the wide spectrum of challenges therein. It will also become incumbent upon such littoral states as can afford the high cost of technology, to catch up so as to maintain their relevance in the great game being played out in their very own backyard. The United States as a leader in inventing and exploiting technology sets its own benchmarks in internalization of advanced technologies to undertake maritime missions at and from the sea in support of its military operations ashore. China, on the other hand, has been striving towards achieving asymmetric war-fighting capabilities, supported by other developing technologies as well as core capabilities like the Beidou position-fixing system, which would be central to network-centric operations, including missile guidance systems. As the IOR increasingly transforms into an arena of extra-regional power play, the implications of technologically enabled confrontations and their impact on resident states are poised to weigh in on a scale never imagined before. There is thus, a greater need for India to gain in-depth knowledge of and develop a perspective on advanced technology sensors, weapons, supporting infrastructures, doctrines and futuristic concepts in the maritime domain and their potential as strategic game changers in the IOR. This book aims to foster greater understanding of the challenges facing the IOR and also look at how the technological advances in the maritime domain may possibly handle such challenges. It should provide useful resource material to those investigating the impact of technology on meeting the maritime challenges in the IOR.

The Indian Ocean, with its critical routes for global commerce, is a potentially volatile location for geopolitical strife. Even as the region’s role in the international economy and as a highway to conflict zones increases, the US has failed to advance a coherent strategy for protecting its interests in the Indian Ocean or for managing complex diplomatic relationships across the region. The Indian Ocean and US Grand Strategy presents a range of viewpoints about whether and how the US should alter its diplomatic and military strategies for this region. Contributors examine US interests in the Indian Ocean, assess the relative critical importance or imperiled nature of these interests, and propose solutions for American strategy ranging from minimal change to maximum engagement. The book concludes with a comparative assessment of these options and a discussion of their implications for US policymakers. This volume’s perspectives and analysis of the Indian Ocean region will be valued by scholars and students of US foreign policy, South Asia, and security studies as well as by diplomats, military officers, and other practitioners.

India's rise as a global power in the 21st century will be backed with a strong blue economy. The high volumetric trade activities through its coastal region, mainly due to its geostrategic location and efficient links with the vast potential market in the hinterland and other landlocked states, provides it unmatched leverage. Among such promising enterprising, attracting global investments and trade, the non-conventional security threats within the Indian Ocean region and India's ports and coast cannot be ignored. Therefore, to address these challenges, the law at the seas formulated by various global organisations and other national and international regulatory mechanisms become essential for all those directly or indirectly involved in India's maritime security. Over the years, many state coastal security agencies have evolved with specific potential and restrictions, which creates a certain conditionality of the existing non-conventional security challenges and maritime conflicts with its neighbours. The successful use of security-related technology to outpace such non-conventional threats creates a demand for further bolstering such technologies for India's advantage. Besides, these prevailing threats to the ports and coastal region, the environmental security challenges also directly impact humans and cannot be undermined. The book covers all these facets in detail, identifying the specific fault lines and makes recommendations to address the non-conventional security challenges of India's ports, coast and maritime trade. The book will be of interest to policymakers, academicians, practitioners, scholars, and all those individuals and institutes interested in India's Ports, Coastal and Maritime Security.

Explores the types of ships, methods of navigation and modes of water-borne trade in the Indian Ocean region and the way they affected the development of distinctive settlements against a changing but strong sense of regional identity.

Großmachtkonflikte, die Zukunft von sicherheitspolitischen Institutionen sowie transnationalen Generationenherausforderungen bergen eine neue globale Unsicherheit. Vor diesem Hintergrund bekommen maritime Sicherheit und Seestreitkräfte sowie deren Einordnung im außenpolitischen Werkzeugkasten eine zunehmende Bedeutung. Was sind die Rollen und Einsatzaufgaben von Seemacht, und wie haben Staaten und ihre Institutionen maritime Ziele, Mittel und Wege konzeptualisiert? Dieser Sammelband bringt ausgewiesene Experten aus den USA, Europa und Asien zusammen, die ihre Perspektive auf maritime Strategie teilen. Das Buch dient gleichzeitig die Festschrift für Peter M. Swartz, Kapitän zur See a.D. der US-Marine, der seit seiner Arbeit als einer der Autoren der "Maritime Strategy" (1980er) als Mentor, Freund, intellektueller Leuchtturm und vor allen Dingen als Spiritus Rektor wesentlich zur Schärfung des Verständnisses von Seestrategie in den globalen Beziehungen beigetragen hat. Mit Beiträgen von James Bergeron, Sebastian Bruns, Seth Cropsey, Larissa Forster, Michael Haas, John Hattendorf, Peter Haynes, Andrzej Makowski, Amund Lundesgaard, Narushige Michishita, Martin Murphy, Sarandis Papadopoulos, Nilanthi Samaranayake, Jeremy Stöhs, Eric Thompson, Geoffrey Till, Sarah Vogler, Steve Wills.

This study focuses on the political and strategic implications of the presence in the Indian Ocean of the United States and the Soviet Union. The author examines the geopolitics of the region in historical perspective and describes the evolution of U.S. and Soviet strategy in the Indian Ocean. The central theme of the book is that the naval deployments of the superpowers should be seen in the context of each power's economic and security interests rather than in the context of military rivalry. The book provides an incisive and comprehensive account of U.S. and Soviet strategies in the Indian Ocean by establishing and integrating the links between the economic, political, and strategic dynamics of the situation.

This book provides a synoptic view of the Indian Ocean and maritime security in its contested waters. Using a historical approach, it reveals vital links to events in the present day. The volume: Highlights the competition between major Asian powers to control the ‘String of Pearls’ — a reference to the Chinese attempts at controlling the Indian Ocean periphery. Shows that cooperation amongst the major powers of the region could abate the threat of the potential of conflict becoming global and inviting external intervention. Discusses India’s Look-East policy and the deepening relation between India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Argues for the need of Indian Ocean states and particularly the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) members of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) to look afresh at their political and security issues and common interests. Suggests measures for evolving a robust mechanism of maintaining the Indian Ocean as a sustainable zone of commerce, energy, security and peace rather than threat. A major contribution on a critical area in Asian geopolitics, this volume will be useful to scholars and researchers of international relations, politics, defence studies and maritime security studies, along with strategic affairs experts and think tanks.