Source : IgMp Bureau
EXCLUSIVE : An Indian Navy MQ-9 Sea Guardian drone seen around Coco Island of Myanmar, a secret surveillance conducted !!??
As per open source intelligence twitter handle Damien Symon (@detresfa_), the Indian Navy deployed its MQ-9 Sea Guardian drone for surveillance operations over Coco Island during the second week of April 2023, located off the coast of Myanmar. This move comes at a time when an airbase on the island undergoes modernization, and there have been reports of other developments taking place in the region.
There has been reports that indicated China has established a secret base on Coco Island to keep a close watch on Indian missile tests. This has raised concerns about China’s increasing presence in the region and its intentions in the Bay of Bengal. The photos from January 2023 by Maxar Technologies, which specializes in satellite imagery, show renewed levels of construction activity on Great Coco. Visible are two new hangars, a new causeway and what appears to be an accommodation bloc, all of which are visible in proximity to a freshly lengthened 2,300-metre runway and radar station. Visible as of late March on the southern tip of Great Coco, just beyond the causeway connecting the islands, is evidence of land clearing efforts indicating construction
Interesting route taken by an #IndianNavy MQ-9 Reaper drone in the second week of April 2023 around Coco Island (Myanmar) where an airbase is undergoing modernization along with other developments
Read more here – https://t.co/OTBfF4RGlq pic.twitter.com/8VB7hv6E5n
— Damien Symon (@detresfa_) May 8, 2023
work to come.
Interesting route taken by an #IndianNavy MQ-9 Reaper drone in the second week of April 2023 around Coco Island (Myanmar) where an airbase is undergoing modernization along with other developments
Read more here – https://t.co/OTBfF4RGlq pic.twitter.com/8VB7hv6E5n
— Damien Symon (@detresfa_) May 8, 2023
This has implications for India’s strategic interests in the region, as New Delhi seeks to counter China’s growing influence in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region. With the Coco Island developments, India may soon face a new airbase close by in a country increasingly tied to Beijing.
The militarization of the Coco Islands by the Tatmadaw, combined with the wider Chinese developments occurring inland, could pose a significant security challenge to India and its navy. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands provide India’s Eastern Fleet strategic depth in the Bay of Bengal and command approaches to the Strait of Malacca.
Deployment of the Indian Navy’s MQ-9 Sea Guardian drones is a part of larger efforts by India to counter China’s growing influence in the Bay of Bengal. India has been working to strengthen its maritime capabilities and partnerships with other countries in the region as well as strengthening its defence infrastructures in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to ensure that its interests are protected.
Data collected by the powerful camera and sensors by Navy’s MQ-9 Sea Guardian drone, will definitely help Top brass of the Military leadership and Ministry of Defence as a whole in the South Block, to determine how to counter this looming threat in the coming years.
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EXCLUSIVE : An Indian Navy MQ-9 Sea Guardian drone seen around Coco Island of Myanmar, a secret surveillance conducted !!?? EXCLUSIVE : An Indian Navy MQ-9 Sea Guardian drone seen around Coco Island of Myanmar, a secret surveillance conducted !!?? EXCLUSIVE : An Indian Navy MQ-9 Sea Guardian drone seen around Coco Island of Myanmar, a secret surveillance conducted !!?? EXCLUSIVE : An Indian Navy MQ-9 Sea Guardian drone seen around Coco Island of Myanmar, a secret surveillance conducted !!?? EXCLUSIVE : An Indian Navy MQ-9 Sea Guardian drone seen around Coco Island of Myanmar, a secret surveillance conducted !!?? IgMp
