ABSTRACT #2India as a Maritime Power?In June 2004, India issued its first maritime doctrine since its independence. The formal doctrine builds upon the Indian Navy's (IN) first Strategic Defense Review, undertaken in 1998. That it took fifty years to have a strategic review for the Indian Navy and another six to formulate a doctrine tells part of the story of why India has not become a significant maritime power or a global political-military entity with which to be reckoned. However, this is all in the process of changing very rapidly.The end of the Cold War, India's detonation of six nuclear weapons in 1998, its rapid economic growth, and its increased willingness to view and use its military power as a legitimate tool to advance its national interests mean that much more attention must be paid to India's military strategies, doctrines, and capabilities, in Asia and beyond. India's strategic review identifies four major roles for the Indian Navy: sea-based (nuclear) deterrence, economic and energy security, forward presence, and naval diplomacy. Each of these roles implies interaction with Asian navies and other extra-regional navies that ply what New Delhi regards as its own waterway ? the Indian Ocean region.India is developing a sea-based leg for its nuclear deterrent force, aimed both at its perennial adversary, Pakistan, and at China, the only other nuclear power with which India has ongoing territorial disputes. New Delhi is in the process of upgrading its naval aviation, with the purchase of the Russian carrier Admiral Gorshkov and the construction of an indigenous aircraft carrier, which until recently was more modestly called an "air defense ship." Purchases of Kilo-class submarines and Krivak-class destroyers from Russia mirror similar capabilities being acquired from Moscow by China. India is not only purchasing capability, it is becoming more expansive in its use. In 2000, the Indian Navy deployed to the South China Sea for the first time, bringing rebukes from Beijing. Yet just three years later, China deployed its ships to the Indian Ocean, conducting exercises first with the Indian Navy and then with its traditional partner in the region, Pakistan. In 2002, the IN took up patrols in the Strait of Malacca to guard transiting high-value ships from attack, relieving a U.S. vessel and freeing it for other missions related to U.S. Operation Enduring Freedom ? something that would have been unthinkable only a few years earlier.Clearly, how the navies of Asia will interact over the coming decade is an open question. India will be a significant player for the first time in its history, sitting astride key sea lines of communication for energy security and projecting power for purposes as varied as tsunami relief and strategic deterrence. This paper will examine the Indian Navy's rapidly growing capabilities and new intentions in the coming decade. It will seek to identify critical nodes of interaction with other Asian maritime powers, predicting potential clashes and areas of convergence of interests. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]