It has been a few weeks since two ships, RFA Argus and RFA Lyme Bay of the UK’s Littoral Response Group - South (LRG-S), arrived in Chennai last month, on their first engagement of its deployment to the Indian Pacific region. The ships are undergoing maintenance in the Larsen and Toubro shipyard at Kattupalli, near Chennai.
It was only in March 2023 that the UK’s HMS Tamar made a port call in Chennai. The regular visits of UK ships are increasing the prominence of Chennai in the ‘Roadmap 2030 for India-UK future relations’, that was launched in 2021.
As the 2030 vision aims for an “enhanced defence and security cooperation that brings a more secure Indian Ocean Region and Indo-Pacific”, the south Indian city on the eastern coast is only among the natural choices for port call.
Oliver Ballhatchet MBE, British Deputy High Commissioner in Chennai said that the visit of the UK’s Littoral Response Group to India, including undergoing scheduled maintenance in an Indian shipyard, added more depth to the UK-India defence partnership. “This is another significant success of the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement signed between the two countries in October 2022”, he said.
The recent activity with India, complemented the UK and Royal Navy’s increased presence in the region to tackle shared security threats and work more closely with India and the Indian Navy to “maintain a rules-based international order in support of a free, open and secure Indo-Pacific,” Mr. Ballhatchet said.
Speaking to reporters onboard the RFA Argus, Commander G. Dalgleish, Commander Amphibious Task Force, LRG-S referred to the Roadmap 2030 and said: “We want to continue to strengthen defence ties.”
“From a military perspective, India was a perfect opportunity and a great place to carry out maintenance, as it has all the facilities,” he said. This visit would also be a “precursor” for the UK’s Carrier Strike Group planned visit to Japan in 2025, as part of Indo-Pacific deployment.
Commander Dalgleish said the Royal Navy has planned an exercise with the Indian Navy after the ships sail out of Kattupalli. On a question about whether there was increased marine traffic as global supply chains were shifting away from certain countries, he replied in the affirmative.
The Royal Navy was “firmly out in the Indo-Pacific”, he said while replying to a query and referred to two ships operating around the Commonwealth region.
When asked if ships are able to move freely in the South China Sea, he said, “We are endeavouring to ensure that ships operate freely.”. The LRG-S has planned exercises with Australia and South Korea in future.
Though there have been UK ships visiting Chennai earlier, the Commander referred to engagements in the western coast and said the Royal Navy was looking at bases to the eastern side of India now. “Hopefully there will be more in the coming years.”
