Military officials said the extra base would improve surveillance of Chinese ships and submarines entering the Indian Ocean through the nearby Malacca Straits. India has grown increasingly uneasy about the looming presence of China’s more powerful navy and fears the network of commercial ports it is building from Sri Lanka to Pakistan could become naval outposts.
The Indian military has seized upon the Andamans that lie near the entrance to the Malacca Straits to counter the Chinese challenge, deploying ships and aircraft since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014 promising a more muscular policy.
Indian navy chief admiral Sunil Lanba will commission the new base, called INS Kohassa, about 180 miles north of the archipelago’s capital, Port Blair.
Navy spokesman Captain DK Sharma said the facility, the third in the islands, will initially have a 1,000-yard runway for helicopters and Dornier surveillance planes but eventually a 3,000-yard runway will support fighter jets and longer-range reconnaissance aircraft.
About 1,20,000 ships pass through the Indian Ocean each year and nearly 70,000 of them pass through the Malacca Strait.
Former navy commodore Anil Jai Singh said: “The underlying thing is the expanding Chinese presence.
“If we have to really monitor Chinese presence, we need to be adequately equipped in the Andaman islands.
“If you have air bases you can cover a larger area,” he said, adding he expected the navy to permanently deploy more ships to the islands in the next phase of the buildup.
A Chinese submarine docked in Sri Lanka’s Colombo port in 2014 that drew such alarm in New Delhi that Modi’s government raised the issue with the Sri Lankan authorities.
Both India and China have been locked in a contest for influence, with New Delhi trying to push back against Beijing’s expansive diplomacy in the region.
This week, Indian defence officials are due to hold talks with the defence minister of the Maldives, Mariya Ahmed Didi, where New Delhi is seeking to repair ties after the ouster of its pro-China leader in a presidential election last year.