First of all, a word of sincere appreciation for this post of local news from an overseas Goan. It helps greatly in filling needless gaps in local perceptions and benefitting from the valuable (presumably liberal) perspectives of our overseas fraternity.
Some analysis of the news report: <DABOLIM (GOA), APRIL 3: For all its efforts to project a blue water capability, the Indian Navy's maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare capabilities stagnate, with no comprehensive solution emerging for the massive coastal areas of jurisdiction on both seaboards. And while the Navy says its capabilities match its threat perceptions, Naval aviation officers here are worried about the dipping force levels.The INS Hansa Naval air station here is the Navy's premier air base.> 1. Hansa may well be the Navy's "premier air base", but a "comprehensive solution for the massive coastal areas of jurisdiction", at least on the western seaboard, requires an integrated look at land Seabird (phase II) also. Press reports invariably dwell on a piece meal picture of one or the other. Someone has to put the pieces together as in a jig saw puzzle to understand the implications for Dabolim airport over the long haul and take any corrective actions deemed necessary. 2. The Navy says its "capabilities match its threat pereceptions". This may well be true because the latter are probably not all that serious anyway below Mumbai! Why then are the local officers worried about "dipping force levels" at Dabolim? Why? <Navy has upped dependence on a far less capable aircraft, the Dornier-228, for maritime patrolling.> 1. Who needs torpedo and anti-ship or even depth charges and bomb dropping capabilities at Dabolim? The Dornier seems much more suited to the major problems posed by tanker shipping etc off the Goa coast. Besides this is in the Coast Guard's bailiwick. <Navy to upgrade 14 Sea Harriers.The Navy feels the upgrade will push the Harriers to live beyond their mothership, the INS Viraat, which retires in 2008.> 1. What happens when Virat is retired? Will the upgraded Harriers be land based (at Dabolim?) or relocated to the new aircraft carrier being acquired from Russia which have MIG 29s on board. <P.S. Now you know why the Navy will not reliquish Goa's Dabolim to the Goans. We should take them to the Supreme Court and have them kicked out. Sooner the better> 1. While the conclusion is almost fore-ordained, the logic in this specific instance is not quite clear. :) Never mind. More significantly it throws some valuable light on the vexed question of "relations" between the Navy and the people of Goa. In connection with the BRAC exercise in the U.S., local communities where bases identified by the Defense dept. for closure are located are said to be frantically hiring the services of retired high ranking military officers at a cost of millions of dollars to lobby for deletion of the affected bases from the list. Here there seems to be no love lost, to say the least, between the Navy and its neighbours!
