India will build a new military airport in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands at a cost of 150 billion rupees ($1.6 billion) and simultaneously extend the runways of two existing military airstrips, a build up aimed at countering China's expanding presence in the Indian Ocean.
The new airport, which will also be used for tourism, will be constructed on the Great Nicobar Island, the southern most part of the archipelago, about 40 nautical miles from the Malacca Strait, one of the world's busiest maritime choke points. The project is located in an ecologically sensitive region.
Photo Credit: Bloomberg
Approved by the federal cabinet, the build up will be “steered” by the defense ministry, Devendra Kumar Joshi, top administrator of the island chain said in New Delhi on Friday. “We expect the first flights to start operating in around three years time.”
Joshi, a former chief of Indian naval forces, was speaking at the United Services Institution of India, a defense ministry backed think tank. The new airfield will have two runways and can sustain large aircraft including civilian flights, he said.
Roughly a third of global trade — and the bulk of China's energy imports — passes through the strait, which has become a strategic fulcrum as Beijing vies for influence in the Indo-Pacific. Its importance gives New Delhi a strong incentive to monitor, and potentially exert control over, shipping traffic between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.
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Expanding military infrastructure would enhance India's ability to track Chinese naval movements and safeguard undersea communication cables. For the US, Japan and Australia, the effort highlights India's role as a regional bulwark against China.
An Indian military installation on the northernmost islet will be refurbished, with its runway extended to accommodate larger aircraft. Two other airfields in the archipelago, including the one in the island capital, Sri Vijaya Puram — formerly Port Blair — will undergo similar upgrades, according to Joshi.
India operates a large number of US-made long-range maritime surveillance aircraft and has recently approved the purchase of six additional planes, Bloomberg News reported. The aircraft will be able to operate from these facilities.
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