Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee opened the first phase of India’s giant western naval base INS Kadamba in Karwar

Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee opened the first phase of India’s giant western naval base INS Kadamba in Karwar, Karnataka state, on May 31/05, saying it would protect the country’s Arabian Sea maritime routes. Kadamba has become India’s 3rd operational naval base, after Mumbai and Visakhapatnam. It is valuable for its location, and also for its ability to transcend the fundamental capacity and security limitations of India’s other 2 naval bases.

INS Kadamba is being built near Karwar in the southern state of Karnataka. That Phase I construction was just part of India’s ambitious “Project Seabird,” a potential INR 50+ billion project that will include the naval base, and much more besides.

 India finished a scaled-back Phase I a full decade after the originally-envisaged 1995 completion date. As might be expected, Phase II remains tied up, and is likely to be approved after it was supposed to have been finished…