4 Indian Navy Warships On High Seas After Strike

The Indian Navy has gone on heightened surveillance-operational alert in the Arabian Sea after the drone attack on Mangalore-bound chemical tanker MV Chem Pluto, sending four guided missile destroyers out on the high seas to protect commercial shipping from missile-drone attacks in the West Asia region, people familiar with the matter said on Monday.

- Shishir Gupta

The navy has also launched P8I multi-mission aircraft as well as Sea Guardian drones for better maritime domain awareness even as the drone-hit MV Chem Pluto reached the Mumbai harbour in the early hours on Christmas day, the people added.

An Indian defence team was on the ship to investigate the drone attack at the time of going to print. The chemical tanker was struck 210 nautical miles off Dwaraka in Gujarat, 500 nautical miles off the Iran coast, and 860 nautical miles off the coast of Yemen. At the time, it had two Iranian vessels in proximity - MV Saviz and MV Artenos and the possibility of the drone being launched from a bulk carrier cannot be ruled out yet, said the people cited above, asking not to be named.