Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a coastal surveillance radar system (CSRS) in Seychelles and commission an offshore patrol vessel in Mauritius this week, in keeping with the overall Indian policy to provide military aid to Indian Ocean Region (IOR) countries to counter China’s continuing inroads into the region.
Modi on Wednesday will commission the first of eight planned CSRS stations in Seychelles, each with navigation radars, electro-optic sensors and AIS (automatic identification system) transponders, during the first leg of his three-nation tour from March 10 to 14.
“The station on Mahe Island has been built with India’s help.
In Mauritius , apart from holding talks with PM Anerood Jugnauth, Modi on Thursday will commission the 1,350-tonne patrol vessel christened MCGS Barracuda after being built for $58.5 million by India. While CGS Barracuda is the first warship to be exported by India, which is to be followed by several others, several offshore patrol vessels and fast-attack crafts have been gifted to different IOR countries in the past.
India, for instance, handed over fast-attack craft INS Tarmugli to Seychelles in 2005, and followed it up with another INS Tarasa last year. Similarly, Indian Dornier-228 aircraft and warships regularly help IOR countries in anti-piracy patrols, EEZ surveillance and hydro-graphic surveys.
Mauritius already has a CSRS network, with five stations on the mainland and three on outlying islands, which was commissioned in 2012. Sri Lanka, too, has a chain of six AIS stations built with India’s help. There is a similar plan under way to assist Maldives with 10 such CSRS stations.
With China steadily forging maritime links with eastern Africa, Seychelles, Mauritius, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Cambodia over the last decade, India has also stepped up its own defence engagement with the countries concerned. “India is acting as a net security provider in the IOR,” said an official.
