Key points
- Time to pretend that IOR is India’s lake is over: Sawhney
- Criticises India’s political leadership and defence minister
- India is not a Great Power (capable of projecting power across Oceans): Expert
ISLAMABAD: An Indian defence expert Pravin Sawhney in a couple of posts on X (formerly Twitter), while criticising Indian political leadership and Indian defence minister’s acumen has argued that the Indian naval strategy is wrong.
In response to an X user’s question, “Wouldn’t it be safer to depend on Military professionals than bureaucrats?”, the defence expert posted: “No. Military has its own interests, so does bureaucracy. Ideally, after taking advice from both, the defence minister should be confident to decide what is good for India’s defence. And this requires that he learn his job by understanding basics of warfare!”
No. Military has its own interests, so does bureaucracy. Ideally, after taking advice from both, the defence minister should be confident to decide what is good for India’s defence. And this requires that he learn his job by understanding basics of warfare! https://t.co/tda1Nfx4ir
— Pravin Sawhney (@PravinSawhney) April 29, 2025
Indian naval strategy is wrong
Sawhney, while further elaborating his point of view and pointing out the flaw in Indian naval strategy, posted that a defence minister who had cared to learn the basics of modern warfare would know that naval warfare has shifted to undersea (below 300m depth).
Here is an example. A defense minister who had cared to learn basics of modern warfare would know that naval warfare has shifted to undersea (below 300m depth).
Now, reality is that the presence of PLA (Navy) PLAN will increase in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) – which the Indian… https://t.co/7jhveTDXcy— Pravin Sawhney (@PravinSawhney) April 29, 2025
“Now, reality is that the presence of PLA (Navy) PLAN will increase in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) – which the Indian Navy continues to believe is its backyard or “area of dominance”. This, the navy argues could best be done by “sea control” platform which is an aircraft carrier. Given this, from navy’s perspective it needs INS Vikrant and the 26 Rafale-M for which Inter Government Agreement has been signed. Moreover, Navy argues that it needs more finances to take on the PLAN in the IOR,” Sawhney adds.
Indian Ocean is not India’s lake
In scathing criticism of the Indian political leadership and the lack of acumen on the part of Indian defence minister, Sawhney argues: “If India had a sensible political leadership with a knowledgeable defense minister, here is how the appreciation would be done: IOR is global common. PLAN has missiles capable of hitting and destroying aircraft carrier from a long distance. So, India should stop spending money on carriers since its national power and indigenous shipbuilding does not qualify it to a Great Power (capable of projecting power across Oceans).”
“Time to pretend that IOR [Indian Ocean Region] is India’s lake is over!” the Indian defence experts concludes.
