I’ve been reading about this for several years now, how India’s “blue water fleet” and submarine capacity is rapidly expanding. Given it’s population size, available resources and increasing technological capabilities, this increase of their naval abilities definitely makes them a regional power to be reckoned with. This could make our own interests in the region more difficult to maintain in the future if our “on-again, off-again” alliance with the Indians veers towards the latter. Hopefully in light of China’s own rapid expansion and the historic enmity between the two powers, our ties with India will be maintained postively. All in all, while India does still have many problems to overcome, it is an interesting look at how a once backward nation has transformed itself in a relatively short period of time.
While Chinese naval modernization efforts are capturing the attention of Western naval officials and analysts as well as journalists and even bloggers, little attention is being given to the Indian Navy’s massive expansion effort. Mohammed Ahmedullah, a leading defense writer, wrote in Military Technology (2/2008):
“With the second biggest Army in the world and a rapidly expanding Navy, India knows that it needs to modernize fast, leapfrog in technology and accumulate military assets rapidly over the next decade if it has to safeguard it growing economic might with military teeth…”
Within a decade the naval forces of India will include two large aircraft carriers, a large force of missile-armed surface warships, and a significant submarine flotilla, probably including three nuclear-propelled attack submarines. The rationale for the expansion of the Indian fleet is to protect the flow of oil to India’s rapidly growing economy… (Defense Tech)
UPDATE: The Futurist has a very intriguing post about why the United States will still be the world’s sole superpower in 2030.
— John (Average Gay Joe)
One of the things the Bush administration is not given credit for (speaking as someone who doesn’t like Bush) is that our relations with India, a very important ally and counterweight to China, have flourished under Bush. While the Euro-socialist poseurs profess to hate America (the way loser high school kids hate the quarterbacks and the cheerleaders), the population of India remains strongly pro-American. Our countries have much in common… very large, heavily populated democracies with multi-ethnic populations, an English legal tradition, and market capitalism (despite the best efforts of the Democrat-Marxists in the congress.)
#2 – Of course our relations with India have flourished under Bush. How else can you explain all of our jobs being outsourced to Mumbai?
Regards,
Peter H.
I leave it to you to decide whether the working class is worse off when jobs are outsourced to Mumbai, or insourced to illegal immigrants.
To the extent that the India wants to be capitalist and prosperous, dominated neither by China nor by a nuclear Pakistan or Iran, then the U.S. and India would be natural allies. I agree, it’s good that our relations with India have flourished under Bush. And don’t worry about outsourcing: the dollar’s fall is already starting to slow it.
Our second highest Corporate Tax Rate in the world. Read something somwhere that some jobs in Mumbai are being outsourced elsewhere because folks are starting to see the money that can be made and want more.
Onerous taxation and regulation on American corporations passed almost exclusively by Democrats?
I’m not worried about outsourcing, at least not yet. We’ve always experienced “outsourcing”, back in the 70’s they called it “offshoring”. But the dollar is beginning to rise again, and we have a socialist Democrat congress with the very strong possibility of a marxist president that have already promised the largest increases in taxes since WWII and the largest regulatory increases in American history.
Offshoring will dramatically increase if Democrats get their way.
Can you run a ship with only your left hand?