Expressions of Global Outlook on the Eastern Seaboard
Arriving in Visakhapatnam on 10 September 2026 felt less like a routine transit and more like a tactical recalibration. As my flight banked over the coastline, the mind of an erstwhile (Aircraft) Direction Officer (The ‘Dee’) instinctively took over. I found myself mentally calculating intercept geometries and scanning the glideslope through the cloudy haze of the approach. The landscape below has shifted; we touched down at the newly commissioned Aduluri Raju Airport at Bhogapuram, a sleek facility that sits 40 km north of the original city airport. This geographical displacement is a literal metaphor for the expanding strategic footprint of India’s eastern gateway. During the long drive to the base, a welcome pause in a hectic academic season. This transit, cushioned by the "typical naval excellence" that remains the bedrock of the Indian Navy, served as the perfect connective tissue between the abstractness of academia and the marinated reality of the Fleet.
A Shared Horizon of Four Decades
Stepping into the headquarters of the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) is always a homecoming, but this visit carried a unique weight of continuity. Calling on the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Vice Admiral Sanjay Bhalla, AVSM, NM was a moment of profound professional symmetry. It has been 39 years since we first stood together as trainees at the Naval Academy at INS Mandovi, Goa, during the Autumn Term of 1987. To see a classmate at the helm of this vital Command is a testament to the enduring strength of the bonds forged in our "initial naval season." We reflected on the Indian Navy’s burgeoning impact on the global stage, specifically the recent operational triumphs of MILAN 2026 and the International Fleet Review. These events are not merely spectacles; they are declarations of maritime intent on the eastern seaboard, signaling a navy that has moved from a regional force to a pillar of global stability.
Centenary of a Legend: Honoring Vice Admiral MP Awati
Maintaining the institutional soul of the Navy requires us to anchor ourselves in the legacy of those who charted the course before us. This visit was framed by a significant milestone: the commencement of the centenary year of the "Grand Sea Icon," the late Vice Admiral Manohar Prahlad Awati, PVSM, Vir Chakra, on 7 September 2026. My mind returned to post IFR 2016, where I had the privilege of engaging in candid conversations with the Admiral. Even then, his clarity of thought regarding history, geography, and demography was legendary. He understood that India’s maritime destiny was not a matter of chance, but a product of its inescapable physical presence in the Indian Ocean. Honoring Admiral Awati reminded us that while technology and tactics evolve, the fundamental requirements of command, vision and character, remain immutable.
Steel and the Soul in A Return to Fleet Support
There is a specific emotional resonance found only on the decks of a former sea command. Returning to INS Jyoti, where I served as Executive Officer (XO), was a journey back to the "steel" that forged my professional identity. Welcomed by the current Commanding Officer, Captain Shobhit Agarwal, I walked the familiar passageways with a sense of immense pride. Jyoti is more than a tanker; she is the logistical backbone of blue-water persistence. Reflecting on the almost 400 incident free underway replenishments (UNREPs) I helped execute on these very decks, I was reminded of the staggering precision and operational grit required to sustain a fleet at sea. These memories of "operational tempo" serve as a bridge between the physical ship and the intellectual "war rooms" where our future strategies are wargamed.
Intellectual Crucible of Wargaming and Strategy
The synergy between the deck and the classroom was most evident during my visit to the Maritime Warfare Centre (MWC) in Visakhapatnam. The MWC serves as a hub for strategic learning, and seeing it today provided a beautiful professional loop: the current Director is my PhD scholar at the Naval War College, Goa. This mentor-student relationship is the lifeblood of the Navy’s intellectual evolution. Spending time in what I call the "war room for the mind" evoked foundational memories of my own career development in wargaming. It is here that we move beyond "mental geometry" to the deeper synthesis of strategy, ensuring that our officers are as sharp with a pen and a thesis as they are with a bridge wing and a sextant.
The Chaotic Globe in a Monsoon Series Lecture
The visit culminated at the Meghadri Auditorium in the Naval Dockyard, where I delivered the Monsoon Lecture to an audience led by Rear Admiral Gokul Krishna Dutta, VSM, the Chief Staff Officer (Personnel and Administration), ENC. The date, 11 September 2026, marked the 25th anniversary of 9/11, an event that shattered geographic insularity and birthed a quarter-century of kinetic intervention.
Drawing from my recent book, Wide Wild World: Divergent Hues of a Chaotic Globe, I introduced the concept of "Progressive Unrealism." This is realism stripped of all wisdom, a "Gangland Global Order" where hegemons treat international law as a rhetorical accessory to be discarded at will. We see this in the US quietly renaming INDOPACOM back to "US PACOM" in June 2026, signaling a retreat from the "Indo" anchor toward a transactional G-2 arrangement with Beijing.
The most chilling manifestation of this lawlessness occurred right in our backyard: the sinking of the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena on March 4, 2026. The Dena had been an honored guest at MILAN 2026 in Visakhapatnam, yet just days after departing our waters, she was torpedoed by the USS Charlotte off the coast of Sri Lanka. This "unprovoked kinetic operation" proves that sovereign sanctity is now a conditional commodity. This fragmentation of order imposes a "Geopolitics Tax" on the world, forcing a shift from "just-in-time" supply chains to "just-in-case" redundancies.
The depth of the lecture’s impact was best captured during the Q&A, specifically by an insightful question from a sailor. His inquiry into the future of minilateral alliances demonstrated that strategic awareness now permeates every level of naval service, from the wardroom to the lower decks.
Autonomy and Vision in the New Era
As I left Visakhapatnam, the overarching lesson of this journey was clear: we are living in a "restive dawn" where the old rules-based order is being buried under the rubble of unilateralism. In a world of "Progressive Unrealism," where power is exercised simply because it is uncontested, the Indian Navy must remain a beacon of grounded stability.
While regional architectures like SAARC may be fraying and global hegemons may be retreating into transactionalism, our mandate remains simple: we must maintain order while the rest of the world is busy in disorder. The future of the maritime commons will not be dictated by distant capitals operating under "unreal" delusions, but by those who stand firm on strategic autonomy, history, and unwavering justice. Like the legends before us, we must lead with a cold, unblinking realpolitik, ensuring that the Indian Ocean remains an ocean of peace in a wide, wild, and chaotic world.
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