India on Tuesday provided a Dornier maritime surveillance aircraft to the Maldives National Defense Force (MDNF) that is expected to boost efforts to more closely monitor the movement of Chinese vessels in regional waters, people familiar with the events said.
The Dornier aircraft will operate under the command and control of MNDF, while the csosts will be carried out by India. It will assist the ongoing joint surveillance activities of India and the Maldives of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Indian Ocean archipelago.
Seven members of the MDNF staff, including pilots, aerial observers and engineers, are being trained to operate the Dornier by the Indian Navy. The persons named above said, on condition of anonymity, that the aircraft was provided by the Indian Navy pursuant to an intergovernmental agreement.
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“The plane will also help monitor the activities of Chinese ships in regional waters. The surveillance of the EEZ includes the monitoring of all adversary movements, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and drug and human trafficking, ”said one of the people cited above.
“In light of the Mahibadhoo and Laamu attacks by suspected terrorists, the Dornier aircraft will also be useful in the field of counter-terrorism. The isolated and dispersed nature of the islands and resorts can only be safeguarded by a technologically capable fixed-wing aircraft, ”the person said.
The person was referring to the attacks in the port of the island of Mahibadhoo, in central Maldives, on April 15, in which four speedboats, a maritime ambulance and two boats caught fire.
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The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Maldivian police described the incident as arson and said it could have been the work of extremists or drug traffickers who retaliated against special operations conducted since September 2019.
The Indian high commission in Malé tweeted: “According to the government-to-government agreement and discussions started in 2016, the Dornier is coming! Participate in humanitarian aid efforts and joint surveillance of the EEZ under the command and control of #MNDF; He is proud to wear the #MNDF colors and crest, and will involve Maldivian pilots in their operations. ”
The people noted that previous Maldivian governments had also wanted a Dornier aircraft to be placed in the Maldives to enhance security and joint surveillance of the EEZ and search and rescue operations and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR). , particularly in the northern atolls.
The aircraft requirement was first raised during former Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen’s visit to India in 2016.
“Although it could not be implemented before, the current government of President Ibrahim Solih has been able to implement it. Maldivian pilots, observers and technical personnel have been receiving training to operate the Dornier aircraft since June 2017, ”said an official who did not want to be named. The current Maldivian government has managed to get India to organize more such training programs, the official said.
During a recent EEZ surveillance operation, several large trawlers were found illegally fishing in Maldivian waters, the official added.
The Government of India has been regularly sharing information with the Government of the Maldives on the movement of drug traffickers heading to the archipelago based on reconnaissance flights by Dornier aircraft.
The Dornier will also complement the medical evacuation operations currently conducted by MNDF helicopters. More than 250 Maldivian lives have been saved during these medical evacuation flights.
Maldives is an archipelago of almost 1,200 islands grouped into 19 scattered atolls that cover an area of almost 90,000 km. The country’s EEZ covers almost one million kilometers.
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