ANDAMAN & NICOBAR COMMAND: INDIA'S SPRINGBOARD FOR SEA DOMINANCE

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands have the potential to be a unique commercial and strategic hub that secures India’s eastern seaboard by controlling key chokepoints. The Andaman and Nicobar Tri-Command holds the key to unlocking this potential, writes RAKESH KRISHNAN SIMHA

- RAKESH KRISHNAN SIMHA

Around 1020 CE, the mighty Chola Empire occupied the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and used them as a strategic springboard to launch a naval expedition for conquering Sumatra. In the 17th century, the legendary Maratha admiral Kanhoji Angre brought the islands under Indian control and used them as a temporary maritime base for warships of the Maratha Navy. Today, the group of 572 islands is home to the first and only tri-service theatre command of the Indian armed forces. Headquartered at INS Kohassa, in the North Andaman Island, the Andaman and Nicobar TriCommand (ANC) is set to become a significant military base. An infusion of $820 million over the next decade will create facilities for additional troops and military assets in the islands.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands archipelago is India’s farthest military outpost, but the islands hold huge strategic significance. Located at the maritime boundary between the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, they straddle some of the busiest trade routes in the world and are in proximity to the western entrance of the Malacca Strait, a major Indian Ocean chokepoint. Like an unsinkable aircraft carrier, the Andamans are ideal for monitoring 24/7 the PLA Navy’s ingress into the Indian Ocean Region. The Andaman Sea is also a geostrategic gateway to important sea lines of communication (SLOC) through which India can extend her reach further into the Indo-Pacific.

History of the command