Why the proposed military base at Minicoy Islands will be a game-changer

The Indian Air Force (IAF) proposal to set up a forward fighter airbase in Minicoy Islands, 425 kilometres off Thiruvananthapuram, is part of a national security strategy to safeguard the sea lanes of communications (SLOCs) as well as keep the Arabian Sea free from non-state actors in the region.

This strategy was put on the drawing board when General Bipin Rawat was the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and was a piece of a larger chess board involving upgrading of all air and naval bases in Andamans and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. As of now, Minicoy Islands has a small Indian Navy detachment but its strategic potential is tremendous due to its location.

The 200-kilometre wide nine-degree channel between Suheli Par Island and the Minicoy hosts trillion-dollar merchant shipping between Europe, Middle-East, South East Asia and North Asia and it’s the key SLOC for carriers headed to and from Malacca Straits including Sri Lanka and South Indian Ocean. Even traffic headed from Suez Canal and Persian Gulf to Sunda, Lombok or Ombi-Wetar straits of Indonesia has to pass in the vicinity of Minicoy Islands and the Andamans and Nicobar Islands territory of India.

This nine-degree channel complements the ten-degree channel, which separates the Great Andamans from the Nicobar Islands, and leads to the Malacca Straits. As per Gen Rawat’s vision, the upgradation of air base at Campbell Bay and the building of a replenishment facility for global tankers waiting for their turn to enter Malacca Straits was part of a national security plan and is steadily being implemented with the help of friendly QUAD powers.

Not only the expanded air base at Minicoy and Campbell Bay give India better maritime domain awareness of the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean but also help protect the 7500 km long Indian coastline from outside threat. It will also give the Indian armed forces more transparency of the Indian Ocean Region theatre with Chinese warships making frequent forays in the region ostensibly to participate in the anti-piracy force off the Gulf of Aden. But there is more to it.

In military terms, forward bases at Minicoy and Campbell Bay will project force in Indian Ocean Region as IAF fighters will be able to cover the entire Arabian Sea up to East Africa using mid-air refuelers, just as Indian military aircraft could fly up to coast of QUAD ally Australia after taking off from Campbell Bay in Nicobar Islands. The Indian capability will further be expanded with the availability of high altitude long endurance armed MQ-9B Predator Drones from the US. The tri-service bases at Minicoy and Campbell Bay may appear to be a small speck in the vast Indian Ocean canvass, but they will be a game-changer in Indian strategy to take on the Chinese expansionist challenge in the Indo-Pacific.