India has a grand maritime strategy, but the naval tools are missing

With the navy's annual budget steadily declining, security planners are reluctant to green light crucial projects

While Indian leaders and strategists claim a pre-eminent role in the Indian Ocean Region and portray the Indian Navy as the key guarantor of security in these waters, it remains unclear whether the hard power capability exists for discharging such a role.
 
With the navy’s annual budget steadily declining, national security planners are reluctant to green light crucial power projection platforms, notably India’s second indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC-2), which should have already been under construction to join the fleet by about 2030.
 
India’s ambitious maritime aspirations were outlined in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s keynote address at the prestigious