American P-8 Submarine Hunter Jets Conduct First Refuelling in India Under New Defence Pact

A U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon anti-submarine warfare aircraft has carried out its first refuelling mission from India’s strategically located military base in the Andaman Nicobar Islands. This comes amid rising tensions between India and China following the reviving of a long dormant border dispute in June 2020, with low-level clashes lasting several hours causing over 150 Indian casualties. The U.S. has maintained a major interest in increasing its military presence in the Indian Ocean region, which lies along major Chinese trade routes and could be used to block Chinese trade with the Middle East, Europe and Africa. China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy is expected to provide greater security to its trade routes with the commissioning of significant numbers of new Type 095 Class submarines - a warship class currently in the late stages of development which is expected to pioneer a number of revolutionary new quieting technologies and surpass its most advanced American and Russian counterparts in terms of stealth capabilities.

The presence of American anti-submarine warfare aircraft in the Indian Ocean is key to maintaining a balance of power in the region which favours the interests of the Western Bloc, and Indian assistance will help to reduce the logistical burden of U.S. Military operations. The first refuelling of an American P-8 jet reportedly occurred near the end of September, and was carried out under the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement which the two countries signed in 2016. An anonymous military source cited by a number of Indian media outlets stated regarding the refuelling of the aircraft “The flight landed over a week back at an airstrip in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands for refuelling under the LEMOA. The aircraft was present at the base for a few hours before resuming its journey.” The incident marks the first time an American aircraft has received this kind of support from the Indian Military, which represents a major shift in relations which has occurred under India’s Narendra Modi administration. The United States and India were notably close to a state of war in the early 1970s under America’s Richard Nixon administration, with only Soviet intervention to protect India deterring the U.S. from launching large scale attacks on the country.