{"id":155848,"date":"2025-02-18T19:28:14","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T13:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/?post_type=current-affairs&#038;p=155848"},"modified":"2025-02-18T19:28:14","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T13:58:14","slug":"underwater-domain-awareness","status":"publish","type":"current-affairs","link":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/current-affairs\/underwater-domain-awareness","title":{"rendered":"Underwater Domain Awareness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A new initiative namely, <\/span><b>the Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance (ASIA)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has been announced between<\/span><b> India and the United States to scale up their cooperation <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in underwater domain awareness (UDA).<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Joint Statement:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Both the countries<\/span><b> pledge to accelerate defence technology cooperation across space, air defence, missile, maritime and undersea <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">technologies.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The U.S. has announced a<\/span><b> review of its policy on releasing fifth-generation fighters and undersea systems to India.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"vc_table_green\"><\/p>\n<table style=\"width: 99.6988%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"width: 100%; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; background-color: rgba(184, 165, 217, 0.53); text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;\">\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt; color: #000000;\"><b>About the Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance (ASIA)<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Based On: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The alliance initiative is based on the<\/span><b> US-India Roadmap for Defence Industrial Cooperation,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> particularly focusing on autonomous systems.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Aim:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The alliance has<\/span><b> identified a range of UDA technologies for co-production and co-development<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in India\u00a0 on a<\/span><b> commercial basis <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and is aimed at <\/span><b>scaling up industry partnerships and productio<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">n in the Indo-Pacific region.<\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India is the <\/span><b>first country with whom the U.S. defence industry will wo<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rk on these sensitive technologies\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Need: T<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">he rapid<\/span><b> expansion and increasing presence of the Chinese Navy in the Indian Ocean region has called for increased <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">maritime domain awareness, especially, underwater domain awareness.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Technologies Included:\u00a0<\/b><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>The Sea Picket autonomous surveillance system<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with sonar acoustic array produced by <\/span><b>Thayer Mahan<\/b><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>The Wave Glider unmanned surface vehicle systems:<\/b><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Boeing\u2019s Liquid Robotics and Sagar Defence Engineering are in negotiations for the co-production of 60 Wave Glider platforms in India<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Low frequency active towed sonar:<\/b><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"3\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>L3 Harris and Bharat Electronics t<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">o collaborate on the co-development of active towed array systems.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Multistatic active (MSA) sonobuoys: I<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">t is a high-end technology which can be used to track submarines in the deep seas and oceans<\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"3\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Ultra Maritime\u2019s sonobuoys will be co-produced<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in India in partnership with the defence public sector undertaking Bharat Dynamics Limited.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Large diameter autonomous undersea vehicles p<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">roduced by Andruil<\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"3\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Anduril Industries and Mahindra Group has announced a partnership on advanced autonomous technologies.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Triton autonomous underwater and surface vehicle produced by Ocean Ae<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ro.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><\/div>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>About Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA)<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Meaning:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA) i<\/span><b>s part of the broader framework of Maritime Domain Awareness <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">focusing on the underwater realm of our maritime areas and the freshwater systems.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Components: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UDA as a <\/span><b>concept integrates all the four stakeholders,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> synergising efforts for ensuring safe, secure, sustainable growth for all in the region.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><b>The Security Apparatus: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To defend the <\/span><b>Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC), coastal waters and varied maritime assets<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> against the proliferation of submarines and mine capabilities intended to limit the access to the seas and littoral waters<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Blue Economic Entities:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> To gain precise <\/span><b>inputs on the availability of underwater resources<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (fisheries, aquaculture, seaweeds, pharma ingredients, minerals etc) for sustainable and efficient exploration and exploitation.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Environmental regulators and disaster management:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The precise estimate of the habitat degradation and species vulnerability caused by commercial sea activities and to assess the ecosystem status and climate change risk for any conservation initiative:\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Research and Development: Monitoring the earth\u2019s underwater geophysical <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">activities.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Challenges:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Lack of Resources:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Installing UDA technologies will require resources such as <\/span><b>cutting-edge technology, funds, and professional personnel<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to effectively carry out surveillance.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Huge coastal Area:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> India has a coastline stretching over <\/span><b>7,500 kilometres and an extensive Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">which makes the task of monitoring such vast maritime boundaries daunting.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Self Reliance: In<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">dia is<\/span><b> reliant on foreign technology for underwater m<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">onitoring devices which can create issues fo<\/span><b>r national security, costly defence acquisitions, operation, maintenance and recycling problems.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Difficult Surveillance: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Natural factors like<\/span><b> seasonal monsoons and underwater topography can complicate surveillance activitie<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">s, and a lack of coordination between agencies responsible for maritime security impairs cooperation efficiency.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Environmental Problems: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Increased presence of underwater vehicles and sonars will disturb the pristine habitat of the underwater species.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Fragmented Maritime Strategy: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Military maritime strategies cannot succeed in the case of fragmented maritime governance and governance gaps that continue to exist without an all-encompassing maritime strategy.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Opportunities for India:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Build Situational Awareness: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deploying <\/span><b>advanced UDA systems will\u00a0 lead to<\/b> <b>increased situational awareness in the region <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">which will help in proactively<\/span><b> managing maritime issues and pre-empting conflicts <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">by detecting potential threats or incidents underwater at an early stage<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Maritime Diplomacy Capabilities:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> India can engage in security partnerships at sea with other nations<\/span><b> through information sharing and other confidence-building measures <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">attaining closer diplomatic relationships\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Collective Responses:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Common maritime challenges in the <\/span><b>region like environmental degradation, spying, resource exploration et<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">c\u00a0 can be collaborated along.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Freedom of Navigation: I<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ndia by employing enhanced UDA capabilities can <\/span><b>help secure vital waterways and protect commercial shipping<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> lanes from threats.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Protect Marine Ecosystems: I<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ndia can employ the UDA to <\/span><b>fight against marine pollution, climate change impacts and biodiversity conservation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> through diplomatic channels.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Search and Rescue (SAR) : <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UDA will facilitate more<\/span><b> efficient inter-agency coordination and cooperation among Search and Rescue agencies at sea,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> resulting in India\u2019s ability to offer immediate assistance to neighbouring states in difficult times.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Conclusion:\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India needs to <\/span><b>collaborate internationally to bring out developments in the UDA technologies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and simultaneously<\/span><b> build its own indigenous capacity t<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">o overcome issues such as<\/span><b> resource constraints and enhance threat detection and response capacity.<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"3\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India needs to<\/span><b> Include all stakeholders in a comprehensive UDA strateg<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">y to guarantee a stron<\/span><b>g maritime security system, supporting regional stability and India&#8217;s position as a responsible <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">maritime player.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-155826\" src=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/185-67b483ae0ad7c.webp\" alt=\"Underwater Domain Awareness\" width=\"596\" height=\"255\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/185-67b483ae0ad7c.webp 1103w, https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/185-67b483ae0ad7c-300x128.webp 300w, https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/185-67b483ae0ad7c-1024x438.webp 1024w, https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/185-67b483ae0ad7c-768x329.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 596px) 100vw, 596px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"vc_table_green\"><\/p>\n<table style=\"width: 99.6375%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 111.19%; text-align: center;\" colspan=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 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(UDA).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":155830,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"paper-wise":[2084],"subject":[2102],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/155848"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/current-affairs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155848"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/155848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155852,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/155848\/revisions\/155852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155848"},{"taxonomy":"paper-wise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/paper-wise?post=155848"},{"taxonomy":"subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subject?post=155848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}