Jayanta Roy ChowdhuryNew Delhi, April 7 -- The outcome of the war in West Asia has sent India's defence planners in a tizzy working out new plans, fast forwarding some as they work out new strategies which include guarding maritime chokepoints and readying drone forces for naval or distant wars in the future.
For a country that depends on seaborne routes for nearly 90 per cent of its trade by volume and 80 per cent of its crude oil imports, the protection of chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb, and Strait of Malacca has moved from a strategic consideration to an existential imperative.
"We need to and will be expanding the tri-services Andaman command, which guards three chokepoints including the Malacca strait through...