This is the first academic study of India's emerging maritime strategy, and offers a systematic analysis of the interplay between Western military thought and Indian maritime traditions. By a quirk of historical fate, Europe embarked on its Age of Discovery just as the main Asian powers were renouncing the sea, ushering in centuries of Western dominance. In the 21st century, however, Asian states are once again resuming a naval focus, with both China and India dedicating some of their new-found wealth to building powerful navies and coast guards, and drawing up maritime strategies to govern the use of these forces. The United States, like the British Empire before it, is attempting to manage these rising sea powers while preserving its maritime primacy. This book probes how India looks at the sea, what kind of strategy and seagoing forces New Delhi may craft in the coming years, and how Indian leaders may use these forces. It examines the material dimension, but its major premise is that navies represent a physical expression of a society's history, philosophical traditions, and culture. This book, then, ventures a comprehensive appraisal of Indian maritime strategy. This book will be of interest to students of sea power, strategic studies, Indian politics and Asian Studies in general. James R. Holmes is an Associate Professor of Strategy at the U.S. Naval War College and a former U.S. Navy surface warfare officer. Toshi Yoshihara is an Associate Professor in the Strategy and Policy Department at the Naval War College. Andrew C. Winner is Professor in the Strategic Research Department at the U.S. Naval War College.

This book offers an assessment of the naval policies of emerging naval powers, and the implications for maritime security relations and the global maritime order. Since the end of the Cold War, China, Japan, India and Russia have begun to challenge the status quo with the acquisition of advanced naval capabilities. The emergence of rising naval powers is a cause for concern, as the potential for great power instability is exacerbated by the multiple maritime territorial disputes among new and established naval powers. This work explores the underlying sources of maritime ambition through an analysis of various historical cases of naval expansionism. It analyses both the sources and dynamics of international naval competition, and looks at the ways in which maritime stability and the widespread benefits of international commerce and maritime resource extraction can be sustained through the twenty-first century. This book will be of much interest to students of naval power, Asian security and politics, strategic studies, security studies and IR in general.

This book examines India’s naval strategy within the context of Asian regional security. Amidst the intensifying geopolitical contestation in the waters of Asia, this book investigates the growing strategic salience of the Indian Navy. Delhi’s expanding economic and military strength has generated a widespread debate on India’s prospects for shaping the balance of power in Asia. This volume provides much needed texture to the abstract debate on India’s rise by focusing on the changing nature of India’s maritime orientation, the recent evolution of its naval strategy, and its emerging defence diplomacy. In tracing the drift of the Navy from the margins of Delhi’s national security consciousness to a central position, analysing the tension between its maritime possibilities and the continentalist mind set, and in examining the gap between the growing external demands for its security contributions and internal ambivalence, this volume offers rare insights into India’s strategic direction at a critical moment in the nation’s evolution. By examining the internal and external dimensions of the Indian naval future, both of which are in dynamic flux, the essays here help a deeper understanding of India’s changing international possibilities and its impact on Asian and global security. This book will be of much interest to students of naval strategy, Asian politics, security studies and IR, in general.

This book assesses India’s role as a major power in the Indian Ocean. Many see the Indian Ocean as naturally falling within India’s sphere of influence but, as this book demonstrates, India has a long way to go before it could achieve regional dominance. The book outlines the development of Indian thinking on its role in the Indian Ocean and examines India’s strategic relationships in the region, including with maritime South Asia, the Indian Ocean islands, East Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Australia. The book then discusses India’s ambivalent relationship with the United States and explores its attitude towards China’s growing power in the Indian Ocean. It concludes by discussing the region’s evolving strategic order – does India have what it takes to become the leading power in the region?

In the twenty-first century, the Indo-Pacific, which spans from the western Pacific Ocean to the western Indian Ocean along the eastern coast of Africa, has emerged as a crucial geostrategic region for trade, investment, energy supplies, cooperation, and competition. It presents complex maritime security challenges and interlocking economic interests that require the development of an overarching multilateral security framework. This volume develops common approaches by focusing on geopolitical challenges, transnational security concerns, and multilateral institution-building and cooperation. The chapters, written by a cross-section of practitioners, diplomats, policymakers, and scholars from the three major powers discussed (United States, China, India) explain the opportunities and risks in the Indo-Pacific region and identify specific naval measures needed to enhance maritime security in the region. Maritime Security in the Indo-Pacific opens by introducing the Indo-Pacific and outlining the roles of China, India, and the United States in various maritime issues in the region. It then focuses on the security challenges presented by maritime disputes, naval engagement, legal issues, sea lanes of communication, energy transport, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, as well as by nontraditional threats, such as piracy, terrorism, and weapons proliferation. It compares and contrasts the roles and perspectives of the key maritime powers, analyzing the need for multilateral cooperation to overcome the traditional and nontraditional challenges and security dilemma. This shows that, in spite of their different interests, capabilities, and priorities, Washington, Beijing and New Delhi can and do engage in cooperation to deal with transnational security challenges. Lastly, the book describes how to promote maritime cooperation by establishing or strengthening multilateral mechanisms and measures that would reduce the prospects for conflict in the Indo-Pacific region.

Rising China and emerging India are becoming major maritime powers. As they build large navies to secure their growing interests, both nations are roiling the waters of the Indo-Pacific—the vast littoral stretching from Africa to Australasia. Invoking a tale from Hindu mythology— Samudra Manthan or "to churn the ocean"—C. Raja Mohan tells the story of a Sino-Indian rivalry spilling over from the Great Himalayas into the Indian and Pacific Oceans. He examines the prospects of mitigating the tensions and constructing a stable Indo-Pacific order. America, the dominant power in the area, is being drawn into the unfolding Sino-Indian competition. Despite the huge differences in the current naval capabilities of China, India, and the United States, Mohan argues that the three countries are locked in a triangular struggle destined to mold the future Indo-Pacific.

This updated new edition of Understanding Naval Warfare offers the reader an accessible introduction to the study of modern naval warfare, providing a thorough grounding in the vocabulary, concepts, issues and debates, set within the context of relevant history. The third edition explains traditional concepts and explores current and emerging ideas concerning the theory and practice of naval warfare, relating these to recent events including Sino-American naval competition and the Russian-Ukraine War. Navies operate in an environment that most people do not understand and that many avoid. They are equipped with a bewildering range of ships, craft and other vessels and types of equipment, the purpose of which is often unclear. Writings on naval warfare are usually replete with references to esoteric concepts explained in specialist language that can serve as a barrier to understanding. This book cuts through the obscure and the arcane to offer a clear, coherent and accessible guide to the key features of naval warfare which will equip the reader with the knowledge and understanding necessary for a sophisticated engagement with the subject. The new edition is divided into two key parts. The first focuses on concepts of naval warfare and introduces readers to the ideas associated with the theory and practice of naval operations and includes a chapter where the history of the last century of naval warfare is explored in order to illustrate the key concepts. The second part focuses on the conduct of war at sea and on peacetime roles for contemporary navies and now includes new material on hybrid warfare and grey zone operations and on joint warfare, multi-domain operations and integrated deterrence within the context of evolving great power rivalry at sea. This textbook will be essential reading for students of naval warfare, sea power and maritime security and is highly recommended for those studying military history, strategic studies and security studies in general.

The navies of China, India and to a lesser extent Japan are expanding rapidly at present. This has the potential to alter the US-dominated naval balance in Asia-Pacific but it also raises a question: are the regions powers involved in a naval arms race? Naval development is and always has been a crucial indicator of economic and political development. It shows the emergence of a significant shift in strategic weight from West to East. But within the Asia-Pacific Region, alongside growing economic and institutional integration, there are geo-political tensions that threaten the regions stability and peace. The balance between the two determines the form that naval development in that region is taking. Some aspects of this suggest the beginnings of a naval arms race that would have profound consequences for the region and the world.

The Indian Navy has gradually emerged as an indispensable tool of Indian diplomacy in recent years, making it imperative for Indian policy-makers and naval thinkers to think anew the role of the nation’s naval forces in Indian strategy. There is a long tradition in India of viewing the maritime dimension of security as central to the nation’s strategic priorities. With India's economic rise, India is trying to bring that focus back, making its navy integral to national grand strategy. This volume is the first full-length examination of the myriad issues that have emerged out of the recent rise of Indian naval power.

China and India are emerging as major maritime powers as part of long-term shifts in the regional balance of power. As their wealth, interests, and power grow, the two countries are increasingly bumping up against each other across the Indo-Pacific. China’s growing naval presence in the Indian Ocean is seen by many as challenging India’s aspirations towards regional leadership and major power status. How India and China get along in this shared maritime space—cooperation, coexistence, competition, or confrontation—will be one of the key strategic challenges for the entire region. India and China at Sea is an essential resource in understanding how the two countries will interact as major maritime powers in the coming decades. The essays in the volume, by noted strategic analysts from across the world, seek to better understand Indian and Chinese perspectives about their roles in the Indian Ocean and their evolving naval strategies towards each other.