US Navy Cooperation With India

One of the potential allies in confronting and containing China is India.  For reasons I am at a complete loss to explain, the US has not pursued cooperation with India in any significant way, that I’m aware of.  I’m also unaware of any serious obstacles to enhanced cooperation either.  In other words, we ought to be seeking greater cooperation with India and yet we seem to have little interest in doing so, despite the obvious strategic and geopolitical benefits.  The US and India conduct occasional exercises together but the interactions appear limited and I’m unaware of significant diplomatic interactions, either.  To be fair, I do not follow the political aspects too closely and it is possible that more is occurring than I’m aware of.  If so, however, it is not making any of the news sources that I frequent.

An example of the limited interaction is an Oct 2018 exercise between the US and India involving a single US P-8 Poseidon which conducted anti-submarine exercises with India. (2)  Given that India has bought a few P-8s, this may have been more of a sales PR effort than an actual military exercise.

Recently, however, the Navy has engaged in some limited interactions with India beyond the handful of formal, staged events such as RIMPAC.

USS Anchorage (LPD-23), with elements of 13th MEU embarked, conducted a port visit to Visakhapatnam, India, followed by some at sea cross training.  The visit and training consisted of the typical assortment of professional exchanges with Indian naval counterparts, humanitarian assistance operations, and cross deck helo operations.
  

USS Anchorage

China is aggressively courting countries around the world in a bid to strengthen their global position.  The US, on the other hand, is almost ignoring potential allies in the Chinese region as well as around the world.  We need to recognize and admit that we are at war with China and start fighting back or we’ll find ourselves losers without ever contesting the issue – as happened when we sat back and watched China annex the South/East China Seas.

Our reluctance to strengthen relations with India is perplexing.  We need to correct that.

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(1)Commander, US Pacific Fleet website, MC3 Ryan M. Breeden, 27-Dec-2018,

https://www.cpf.navy.mil/news.aspx/130410

(2)The Times of India website, “US Navy, Indian Navy undertake anti-submarine exercises in Arabian Sea”, Newton Sequeira, 24-Oct-2018,

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/us-navy-indian-navy-undertake-anti-submarine-exercises-in-arabian-sea/articleshow/66351003.cms