The impacts of rising tensions were felt not only in eastern Ladakh, but also in the Indian Ocean, where Indian and Chinese navies increased their presence to counter each other. While Beijing maintains its aggressive posture, the Indian Navy has decided to strengthen its surveillance capabilities in order to counter the Chinese threat in the Indian Ocean.
According to a report, the Indian Navy plans to acquire a large number of unmanned aerial and underwater platforms in the coming years to improve its surveillance capabilities in the face of China's increasing ventures into the Indian Ocean region.
The acquisition will be made as part of a roadmap on unmanned platforms that was finalised last month at a conference of top naval commanders that had extensively discussed the need to procure new-age platforms.
However, the Navy's primary focus will be on acquiring unmanned platforms from within the country, according to PTI sources. It will also look at the best available drones and other related systems on the global market.
And , Along with developments in the Indian Ocean region, the main focus will be on increasing surveillance in strategically important waterways, such as improving capabilities in long-range anti-submarine warfare (ASW), surveillance, and reconnaissance.
According to the roadmap for unmanned platforms, the third aircraft carrier will be designed to house both fighter jets and unmanned aerial vehicles
At present, India has only one aircraft carrier -- INS Vikramaditya which is a Russian origin platform. Indigenously built aircraft carrier (IAC) INS Vikrant is expected to be fully operational by 2022
Following the eastern Ladakh standoff with China and a drone strike on the Jammu airbase, India's armed forces have prioritised the acquisition of unmanned platforms, including armed drones.
The Indian Navy is also pushing for the purchase of 30 multi-mission armed Predator long-endurance drones, which will be armed with air-to-ground missiles, from the United States, which will cost more than USD 3 billion (around Rs 22,000 crore)
Despite the fact that the Indian Navy has moved the procurement proposal, all three services are likely to receive ten drones each
The drones, which are manufactured by US defence major General Atomics, can stay in the air for nearly 35 hours to conduct variety of missions such as surveillance, reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, and enemy target destruction
The Indian Navy received two Predator drones on lease from the United States last year, primarily for surveillance over the Indian Ocean