- Overview: To counter the growing presence of foreign spy ships in the region, India and France have signed a major ‘Maritime Domain Awareness’ pact to share real-time satellite imagery and naval intelligence across the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
- Key Points:
- Access to Reunion Island: Indian Navy surveillance planes (like the P-8I) will now have access to the French naval base at La Réunion, expanding India’s monitoring reach deep into the Southern Indian Ocean.
- Space & Sea Synergy: The agreement combines data from India’s ISRO radar satellites with French military satellites to track unauthorized submarines and “dark shipping” (ships turning off their trackers).
- Protecting Trade Routes: The focus is on securing critical maritime chokepoints like the Mozambique Channel and the Malacca Strait.
- Deepening Ties: This marks a major step forward in India-France relations, moving beyond just buying weapons (like Rafale jets) to actively working together on daily military intelligence.
Source Link: Ministry of External Affairs – Bilateral Briefs
- Q6. The strategic overseas territory of ‘La Réunion’, often central to Indo-French maritime cooperation, is located in the:
- A) Pacific Ocean
- B) Atlantic Ocean
- C) Indian Ocean
- D) Mediterranean Sea
