{"id":53524,"date":"2025-09-09T20:34:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T15:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=53524"},"modified":"2025-09-11T12:51:34","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T07:21:34","slug":"underwater-domain-awareness-red-sea-cable-disruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/09-09-2025\/underwater-domain-awareness-red-sea-cable-disruption","title":{"rendered":"Need of Underwater Domain Awareness Amid Red Sea Cable Disruption"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/ Internal Security<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recent <strong>disruptions in submarine communication cables in the Red Sea<\/strong>, highlights India\u2019s urgent need to<strong> strengthen its Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA)<\/strong>, the ability to monitor, detect, and assess activities beneath oceans and seas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why is UDA Critical for India?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>National Security and Regional Stability: <\/strong>China\u2019s <strong>\u201cUnderwater Great Wall\u201d <\/strong>project, involving seabed sensors and unmanned vehicles, has enhanced surveillance in the Indo-Pacific.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The growing Chinese submarine presence in the Indian Ocean threatens India\u2019s security calculus.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Protection of Critical Infrastructure:<\/strong> Submarine fibre-optic cables carry most of India\u2019s international data, including financial transactions, cloud services, and defence communications.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>These cables are vulnerable to sabotage, accidents, and natural disasters.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Maritime Strategy:<\/strong> India\u2019s <strong>11098.81 km coastline, 1,382 islands, and 2.37 million sq. km EEZ<\/strong> demand advanced underwater surveillance.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>UDA is vital to securing sea lanes, chokepoints, and littoral zones.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Economic Security: <\/strong>India\u2019s <strong>Blue Economy targets<\/strong>, offshore energy, seabed mining, undersea pipelines, require protection against both natural and man-made disruptions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>India\u2019s Undersea Cable Technological Deficiencies<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>India lacks defined legal mechanisms to safeguard undersea cables<\/strong> within its territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Unlike countries like <strong>Australia<\/strong>, which has \u201c<strong>Cable Protection Zones\u201d<\/strong> regulated under UNCLOS, India has yet to designate similar zones, leaving its cables vulnerable to both accidental and malicious damage.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Operational Readiness:<\/strong> India lacks indigenous cable repair ships and relies on foreign vessels for maintenance. This absence significantly delays restoration following cable damage.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Monitoring Shortfall: <\/strong>There is minimal undersea infrastructure for <strong>real-time surveillance<\/strong> of subsea cable networks, which further risks timely detection and response to disruptions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Initiatives taken by India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/28-12-2024\/india-deep-ocean-exploration-mission-2026\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/28-12-2024\/india-deep-ocean-exploration-mission-2026\">Advancing Deep Ocean Mission (DOM<\/a>):<\/strong> India\u2019s <strong>\u20b94,077-crore DOM<\/strong> is fast progressing with the Samudrayaan Project.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The indigenously built <strong>Matsya-6000 submersible,<\/strong> capable of reaching <strong>6,000 metres,<\/strong> is slated for a 2027 crewed mission.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Recent trials of underwater hydrophones enabling communication up to <strong>5.5 km depth <\/strong>mark a leap in deep-sea engineering.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Leveraging Strategic Partnerships: <\/strong>Collaboration with <strong>Australia<\/strong> on advanced towed-array acoustic systems and with the US under <strong>Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance (ASIA) <\/strong>on autonomous underwater technologies reflects India\u2019s focus on building robust undersea surveillance in the Indo-Pacific.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Indigenous Maritime Infrastructure: <\/strong>The commissioning of <strong>INS Nistar,<\/strong> with 80% indigenous content, demonstrates how research, exploration, and defence needs are being met through Atmanirbhar Bharat.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Resource Security and Energy Exploration:<\/strong> The launch of the <strong>National Deep Water Exploration Mission (Samudra Manthan)<\/strong> aligns economic and security interests by targeting offshore oil and gas reserves within India\u2019s vast EEZ.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Establishing Indian-owned cable repair ships<\/strong> and a dedicated subsea maintenance fleet would reduce dependence on foreign vessels. Investment in real-time acoustic and sensor grids can enable timely detection of disruptions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Boost Technological Capabilities:<\/strong> Fast-track development of indigenous Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs), Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) systems, and advanced sonar technologies to bridge capability gaps.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Adoption of AI-driven sonar data analytics,<\/strong> satellite-linked sensors, and predictive modelling will strengthen real-time situational awareness across the Indian Ocean Region.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.orfonline.org\/expert-speak\/addressing-india-s-undersea-technological-deficiencies\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>ORF<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Recent disruptions in submarine communication cables in the Red Sea, highlights India\u2019s urgent need to strengthen its Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA), the ability to monitor, detect, and assess activities beneath oceans and seas.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Why is UDA Critical for India?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">National Security and Regional Stability: China\u2019s \u201cUnderwater Great Wall\u201d project, involving seabed sensors and unmanned vehicles, has enhanced surveillance in the Indo-Pacific.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The growing Chinese submarine presence in the Indian Ocean threatens India\u2019s security calculus.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Protection of Critical Infrastructure: Submarine fibre-optic cables carry most of India\u2019s international data, including financial transactions, cloud services, and defence communications.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">These cables are vulnerable to sabotage, accidents, and natural disasters.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/09-09-2025\/underwater-domain-awareness-red-sea-cable-disruption\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53524"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53569,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53524\/revisions\/53569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}