Indian and Pakistani Navies Remain at High Readiness Amidst Tensions

Both the Indian and Pakistani navies remain in high-readiness postures, following the terrorist attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir on April 22, in which 26 tourists were killed. There have been a much higher number of incidents on the land border between Indian and Pakistani-controlled areas of Kashmir, but these have been confined to small arms fire, whereas in previous periods of tension cross-border incidents have escalated into artillery exchanges.

Besides the activity on the confrontation line in Kashmir, until now the primary Indian response to the attack has been political. This includes the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty, under which river waters are shared, the expulsion of defense attaché staff, air space restrictions and the closure of land border crossing points. Pakistan has taken similar measures in response.

At sea, India has mounted additional reconnaissance flights over the Arabian Sea, using P-8I Poseidon aircraft from Indian Naval Air Squadron 316 based at Hansa in Goa. The Indian Navy also deploys Dornier 228 and MQ-9B drones for maritime reconnaissance. In 2024, the Indian Navy contracted to receive 15 MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones, for delivery by 2029, and the drones currently being used have been leased from General Atomics for use in the interim. One of the leased MQ-9Bs was lost over the Bay of Bengal last year, but was immediately replaced by General Atomics.

India has also replicated Pakistan’s extended conduct of missile firing exercises in the Arabian Sea, but has done so in areas well back from the maritime boundary between the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) belonging to each country. These exercises have involved Kolkata Class destroyers, Nilgiri and Krivak Class frigates, with support from replenishment ships.

The Visakhapatnam class guided missile destroyer INS Surat (D69), commissioned in January, conducted a firing of a Barak 8 surface-to-air missiles, a system jointly developed with Israel. India’s most modern aircraft carrier INS Vikrant (R11), commissioned in September 2023, has also been at sea in the area. Such a force could quickly move into position to replicate the Operation Talwar blockade of Karachi carried out effectively during the clash between the two countries in 1999. The Indian Navy, numbering about 150 ships and submarines, is numerically much larger than that of Pakistan.

Output from the spokesman at Indian Naval Headquarters in New Delhi has however been non-belligerent, focusing instead on an Indian Navy visit currently being carried out to Mauritius and the Maldives. Conversations have taken place between the Director of Operations of the respective nations on the hotline reserved for de-escalation efforts at times of tension.

Operating just 120 nautical miles from recent Indian naval drills, a threat often overlooked is China’s distant-water fleet - these vessels may double up as listening posts, tracking deployment rhythms & response patterns, feeding early warning, naval intel to their sponsors pic.twitter.com/katZv8t5fW

— Damien Symon (@detresfa_) May 4, 2025

Open source observer of naval matters in the region Damien Symon has also noted that there is an extremely large Chinese fishing fleet lying just outside the Indian EEZ, consisting of 224 fishing boats. China has a well-established record of using its fishing fleet for supplementary naval duties such as intelligence gathering, but such a mass of vessels could be used to disrupt naval operations.

On April 28, the Indian government announced that it had signed a $7.4 billion contract with France for the delivery of 22 single and four tandem-seat Rafale-Marine aircraft, a type only otherwise in service with the French Navy. The aircraft are for delivery by 2030, and will complement the land-based version of the Rafale, which is already in service with the Indian Air Force. The aircraft are intended to provide the air wing component for INS Vikrant. Both the aircraft and the carrier will be based at Visakhapatnam Naval Base on India’s eastern seaboard.