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HEADLINE = Why INDRA matters to Russia and India

STRAP = The INDRA series of exercises between Russia and India are vital for improving themilitary readiness of the defence forces of the two countries.

In April 2011 the Indian Navys three most renowned destroyers, INS Delhi, INS Ranvir andINS Ranvijay, sailed over 8500 km to the eastern Russian port of Vladivostok for the INDRA

joint exercise with the remnants of Russias once mighty Pacific Fleet.

But when the Indian warships arrived in Vladivostok, the Pacific Fleet was missing. Accordingto the Russian naval brass, their ships were assisting the Japanese with rescue operations at theFukushima nuclear plant. Even as the Indian warships were returning to Visakhapatnam, theIndian Defence Ministry discovered the Russian warships had sailed out for an exercise of theirown.

According to some observers, the Russians were showing their displeasure at losing out in theIndian jet fighter competition. But it is highly unlikely the professional Russian military wouldagree to diss their Indian friends at the behest of some wound up diplomat in Moscow.

The more plausible reason is the Russian Navy was in such a poor state that it simply cried off.Its like you dont invite anyone inside your house because it i s so shabby.

With $132 billion earmarked for shipbuilding through 2020, the future Russian Navy could turnout to be a formidable force. But if funds could make a navy, then Saudi Arabia and Qatar wouldown the leading navies of the world. At any rate, the bulk of Russian funding will go to attack

and SSBN (nuclear powered, ballistic missile) submarines.The current reality is that the Russian fleet has a comparatively small number of ships that areable to deploy far from their ports for extended periods. No surprises really. The Russian Navyhas always been a submarine focussed force, and its surface vessels are not really in the sameclass as the US Navy s .

The Russian Navy only looks good when compared with its Indian counterpart. With 11 majoraccidents claiming the lives of 21 officers and sailors between March 2013 and August 2014, theIndian Navy currently ranks among the most dangerous fleets in the world. The shocking episodewas the INS Sindhurakshak explosion. On August 14, 2013 while it was berthed in Mumbai

harbour , blasts ripped through the attack submarines torpedo compartment, killing 18 crewmembers. Expired batteries were reportedly the cause of the disaster.

On March 7, 2014, just weeks before the Indian Navy's most modern destroyer, INS Kolkata,was to be commissioned, Commander Kuntal Wadhwa died after inhaling carbon dioxideleaking from a malfunctioning unit while the vessel was undergoing trials at Mazagon Docks,Mumbai.

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Both navies not only have a blemished record at sea but also lack the end to end capabilitiesrequired to qualify as world class fighting forces. Take the August 2009 Kursk submarinedisaster in the Barents Sea. The Kursk was the most lethal and modern hunter-killer sub in theworld yet when it sank after a mysterious explosion or collision, it was Norwegian not Russian

divers who opened its hatches seven days later. Again, it was a Dutch team that raised the hull

to the surface a year later.

Similarly, five months after it sank, Sindhurakshak was raised to the surface by an American not Indian salvage firm.

Under such circumstances, joint exercises such as INDRA derived from India and Russia arevital for keeping up morale, improving sailing skills, and monitoring the seaworthiness of navalvessels.

The Russian and Indian navies cannot train extensively with foreign navies because of theabsence of the trust factor. Recently, an Indian warship that docked during a friendly visit to

China hosted a Chinese admira l who insisted on entering the ships bridge the commanderscontrol room. The Indian captain firmly but politely declined.

Similarly, it is an open secret that western countries allied to the US have extensive espionagenetworks in India. They will not lose the slightest opportunity to do on the sly what the Chineseadmiral was trying to do openly. US whistleblower Edward Snowden has revealed that Americanspying on India including the ruling BJP has been on the upswing. India knows this very well

when the Indian Air Force trains with the Americans and British, its Sukhoi-30MKI pilots areunder orders not to use the aircrafts radar at any time.

INDRA background

The collapse of the Soviet Union meant that the Russian Navy, especially its mighty PacificFleet, which was transformed into a mighty fighting force by Admiral Sergey Gorshkov duringthe 1970s, was allowed to rust in port because of the economic collapse that followed.

The military, which was considered irrelevant during those days of misplaced Russia-US bonhomie, was the first casualty. The Boris Yeltsin era saw steep cuts in defence budgets whichled to the collapse in shipbuilding and naval activity in Russia throughout the 1990s.

During this period of neglect, the Russian Navy had no presence in the Indian Ocean. The navythat in 1971 threw a cordon sanitaire around India to protect it against an American-British naval

attack on Indian cities, was idling and rusting at Vladivostok.

Such a state of destitution continued until 2001, when a contingent of Russian Navy vessels,docked at Mumbai. In April 2003, nine warships of the Russian navy departed from their bases atSevastopol in the Black Sea and Vladivostok for the Indian Ocean. These units engaged in anumber of exercises with the Indian Navy. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov proposed

joint naval exercises to be held later that year.

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Operational philosophies

While protection of navigation against pirates and terrorists as well as combat training were keyaspects of INDRA- 2014, whats more important is do the two navies have a common operational

philosophy?

It has been reported that both India and Russia have held discussions in this matter, following thevisit of the Russian Naval chief, Admiral Vladimir Vysotskiy, to New Delhi. But do Russia andIndia have a common enemy or goals on the high seas?

The Indian Navy has long given up on its dream of seeing the end of American presence in theIndian Ocean. Its focus is now China, which has swooped down into the Indian Ocean, includingthe Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal in a big way. Stopping the Chinese from encircling Indiawith bases in Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Pakistan is Indias priority now.

The Russian Navy has a different aim . Russia has extensive coastlines as well as assets such asoff-shore drilling sites to protect , says a report by the School of Russian & Asian Studies .(http://www.sras.org/state_of_the_russian_navy ) Russia's export economy requires that portsand transport routes be protected and gives Russia a substantial interest in helping internationalefforts to combat piracy.

Future focus

Because India and Russia do not have an adversarial relationship, they should ideally train moreoften. But in fact since 2003, both countries have conducted just five of the INDRA seriesmilitary exercises between the armies and navies of both sides. On the other hand, India has

conducted over 60 military exercises with the United States.

As panic buttons are being pressed in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Ukraine and the Pacific,there is the danger that India and Russia will get sucked into a global conflict. In such aneventuality, India may find itself ranged against the very players the West with which ittrains regularly. On the other hand, by syncing their military forces, Russia and India could gain

better synergies.

As they say in the military: If you train hard, you fight easy.

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