DPG Indo-Pacific Monitor
Indo Pacific Monitor
Authors Commodore Lalit Kapur (Retd.)
Date: March 01, 2024
India’s interim budget, announced on February 1, projected the national GDP for 2023-24 would be ₹3,27,71,808 crores, or about $3.95 trillion. Allocation for the Ministry of Defence was ₹621,540.85 crores (about $74.88 billion), 13.04% of government spending and 1.78% of the GDP.
The conflict in Gaza and disruption of sea lanes by the Houthis continued through the month. MV Rubymar was struck by two missiles on February 19, forcing the crew to abandon ship. US-led forces continued their protective mission in the Red Sea and struck targets in Houthi controlled areas repeatedly. IN warships remained mission deployed in the Arabian Sea. A joint IN-Narcotics Control Board operation on February 28 resulted in the interception of a Pakistani vessel attempting to smuggle around 3.3 tons of drugs into India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the UAE on February 13-14, resulting in eight bilateral agreements, including the interlinking of electronic payment platforms and credit cards. He visited Qatar the next day, thanking the ruler for the release of eight Indian Naval personnel who had been placed on death row on unspecified charges. India signed a long term gas purchase agreement with Qatar.
The US State Department notified the sale of 31 MQ-9B UAVs to India on February 1. India commissioned INS Sandhayak, the first of four large survey vessels built by GRSE Kolkata on February 3. India’s Ministry of Defence contracted BEL to procure 11 Shakti Electronic Warfare systems for the IN. The Defence Acquisition Committee accorded Approval of Necessity for acquisition proposals worth about $ 10.2 billion, including MR aircraft, variable depth sonars and heavyweight torpedoes for the IN.
India and the Maldives agreed on mutually acceptable solutions to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms from the Maldives.
Exercise MILAN-2024 was held in and off Visakhapatnam from February 19-27.
Elections in Indonesia resulted in Prabowo Subianto winning about 59% of the vote and becoming the President-elect. He will be sworn in on October 20, 2024.
PM Narendra Modi and PM of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth jointly inaugurated the new airstrip of Agalega Islands in Mauritius on February 29, as well as six community development projects in the island nation. Earlier on February 12 the two PMs had also launched the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and RuPay Card services in Mauritius.
Australia published the results of its Surface Fleet Review on February 20, calling for expansion and modernisation of its surface force and resulting in an expenditure of A$ 38 billion over the next decade. It also published its Defence Industry Development Strategy on February 29. Separately, 37 Australian personnel were deployed to Guam for five months to embed with USN personnel involved in maintenance of SSNs.
These and other developments are covered in this Indo-Pacific Monitor Vol. V, Issue 2. To read about them, please see the PDF attached.
The conflict in Gaza and disruption of sea lanes by the Houthis continued through the month. MV Rubymar was struck by two missiles on February 19, forcing the crew to abandon ship. US-led forces continued their protective mission in the Red Sea and struck targets in Houthi controlled areas repeatedly. IN warships remained mission deployed in the Arabian Sea. A joint IN-Narcotics Control Board operation on February 28 resulted in the interception of a Pakistani vessel attempting to smuggle around 3.3 tons of drugs into India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the UAE on February 13-14, resulting in eight bilateral agreements, including the interlinking of electronic payment platforms and credit cards. He visited Qatar the next day, thanking the ruler for the release of eight Indian Naval personnel who had been placed on death row on unspecified charges. India signed a long term gas purchase agreement with Qatar.
The US State Department notified the sale of 31 MQ-9B UAVs to India on February 1. India commissioned INS Sandhayak, the first of four large survey vessels built by GRSE Kolkata on February 3. India’s Ministry of Defence contracted BEL to procure 11 Shakti Electronic Warfare systems for the IN. The Defence Acquisition Committee accorded Approval of Necessity for acquisition proposals worth about $ 10.2 billion, including MR aircraft, variable depth sonars and heavyweight torpedoes for the IN.
India and the Maldives agreed on mutually acceptable solutions to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms from the Maldives.
Exercise MILAN-2024 was held in and off Visakhapatnam from February 19-27.
Elections in Indonesia resulted in Prabowo Subianto winning about 59% of the vote and becoming the President-elect. He will be sworn in on October 20, 2024.
PM Narendra Modi and PM of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth jointly inaugurated the new airstrip of Agalega Islands in Mauritius on February 29, as well as six community development projects in the island nation. Earlier on February 12 the two PMs had also launched the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and RuPay Card services in Mauritius.
Australia published the results of its Surface Fleet Review on February 20, calling for expansion and modernisation of its surface force and resulting in an expenditure of A$ 38 billion over the next decade. It also published its Defence Industry Development Strategy on February 29. Separately, 37 Australian personnel were deployed to Guam for five months to embed with USN personnel involved in maintenance of SSNs.
These and other developments are covered in this Indo-Pacific Monitor Vol. V, Issue 2. To read about them, please see the PDF attached.
