As the Indian Navy has surfaced from being a silent to a front line service, Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, who assumed command of the 135 warship Navy on 30 April 2024 as the 26th Chief of the Naval Staff succeeding Admiral R Hari Kumar upon superannuation has his task cut out.
Given the deep professional selection cum seniority criteria for Chiefs in the Indian Armed Forces, Admiral Tripathi has scaled the steep pyramid to the top based on his credentials which include as per the Ministry of Defence Press release Fleet Operations Officer of the Western Fleet at Mumbai, Director of Naval Operations, Principal Director Network Centric Operations and Principal Director Naval Plans at New Delhi, Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Policy and Plans) at NHQ and as the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet. He has also served as the Commandant of the prestigious Indian Naval Academy at Ezhimala, Kerala, Director General of Naval Operations, Chief of Personnel and Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command at Mumbai.
The Indian Navy has emerged from the image of a ‘silent,’ to a frontline service particularly after the focus on the Indo Pacific outlined by the strategy by the same name by the United States. Today multiple European powers including the European Union have published their strategies and vision of the Indo Pacific. The plethora of external powers attention to the region is driven by economic and commercial interests to protect Sea Lines of Communication [SLOCs] from a perceived threat of China’s People Liberation Army Navy, commandeering the largest naval fleet in the World today.
The spike in maritime challenges in the Northern Indian Ocean is evident in the past six months with the Indian Navy conducting Low Intensity Maritime Operations [LIMO] essentially deterring piracy and assistance to merchant ships in distress. As the Vice Chief of Naval Staff, prior taking over the helm as Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Tripathi will be well aware of the current operational environment and expectations from the Navy.
His challenges are in the domain of doctrine and capability building. Rapid change in the character of naval warfare is evident from the Ukraine war, where sans a Navy the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been able to cripple the Russian Black Sea Fleet off Crimea. Use of drones and missiles has not rendered large ships irrelevant but created more vulnerabilities which would have to be identified and the capacity of the Indian Navy to meet these challenges build up.
In this domain the Navy has a handicap in terms of air and missile defence with the threat manifesting from the drone strikes by the Ansarullah commonly known as the Houthi from Yemen ostensibly having struck an Indian Navy ship as per the US Central Command past though this is not acknowledged so far. Emergency capacity development in the anti drone sphere would be essential.
In the conventional domain the Navy Chief’s task is cut out to put the indigenous Aircraft Carrier fully operational and making up the deficiencies in submarines, mine counter measure vessels and so on. The challenge here is the process as the 75 I submarine project trajectory demonstrates the project is languishing for over two decades now with no light at the end of the tunnel. While plans for indigenization are laudable, these cannot hold the Navy’s submarine deficiencies to ransom.
In the ‘fight,’ domain the Indian Navy faces many challenges over indigenization despite having made admirable progress in designing warships in the past few decades.
This comes at a time when China is not only expanding the PLA Navy fleet but also increasing the size and capacity of the Pakistan Navy with the Hangor class submarine launched in April.
Meanwhile balancing a mix of manned, flexibly manned and unmanned vessels is a trend while a whole new design in naval ships is emanating such as the Multi Role Combat Vessel even as the Indian Navy is continuing with a conventional design form.
Meeting the modernization and embracing post modernization trends in naval warships should be on the Naval Chiefs future vision.
Thus, looking at hard numbers operational as well as modernization for contemporary and future wars while keeping away from the self-congratulatory narrative which as been a bane of the recent discourse in the Indian defence sphere should see Admiral Tripathi doing a yeoman’s service to the nation.