Quad maritime surveillance push focused on security, not militarisation: India

New Delhi, June 2. Seeking to dispel concerns that the Quad is evolving into a military alliance, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has asserted that the grouping’s newly launched maritime surveillance initiative is intended to enhance maritime safety, security and domain awareness across the Indo-Pacific rather than contribute to militarisation of the region.

The clarification came after the Quad countries – India, the United States, Japan and Australia – announced an ambitious agenda on maritime surveillance, digital connectivity and emerging technologies following the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting here on May 26, signalling a deeper focus on practical cooperation in areas ranging from maritime security to critical infrastructure and advanced technologies.

A key outcome of the meeting was the launch of the Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration (IPMSC), the first dedicated mechanism aimed at integrating the maritime surveillance capabilities of the four Quad partners. The initiative will initially focus on the Indian Ocean Region and seeks to improve real-time information sharing, maritime domain awareness and coordinated monitoring of illicit activities through expert-level exchanges and simulation exercises.

Addressing a special briefing, Additional Secretary in the MEA, K Nagaraj Naidu, stressed that the IPMSC and the broader Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) should not be interpreted as military initiatives.

According to Naidu, the primary objective is to help Indo-Pacific countries gain access to sophisticated maritime monitoring technologies that are often beyond their financial or technical reach, enabling them to better detect and track unlawful activities at sea.

He pointed to the increasing presence of so-called “grey ships” and “dark ships” operating in international waters and noted that many regional nations lack the capability to independently monitor such activities. The Quad, he said, is leveraging commercially available technologies and shared maritime data to support partner countries in addressing maritime safety and security challenges.

The newly announced IPMSC will build upon the existing IPMDA framework, under which the Quad partners have been working to develop a comprehensive common operating picture by integrating real-time maritime information from across the Indo-Pacific. India’s Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) in Gurugram is expected to play a central role in this evolving surveillance network.

“The focus is to provide partners an enhanced picture of the kind of vessels operating in the waters,” Naidu said, emphasising the initiative’s transparency and maritime awareness objectives.

As part of efforts to strengthen operational coordination, the Quad also announced that India will host the next edition of the Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission, a programme designed to improve interoperability and coordination among the four countries in responding to unlawful maritime activities.

Beyond maritime security, the grouping advanced a broader agenda aimed at building trusted and resilient digital ecosystems across the Indo-Pacific. The four countries agreed to expand cooperation on next-generation telecommunications technologies, including Open Radio Access Networks (Open RAN) and emerging 6G standards, while exploring interoperability in digital identity systems.

The Quad noted progress in deploying secure 4G and 5G Open RAN networks in Palau, part of a wider effort to provide diversified and secure digital infrastructure options for countries in the region.

The grouping also reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening undersea cable resilience and reiterated plans to ensure that all members of the Pacific Islands Forum are connected through submarine cable networks by 2026.

In the field of artificial intelligence, the Quad announced more than $6 million in funding for six international research projects focused on agriculture. The projects will utilise AI-based technologies to improve crop productivity, pest management and food security, reflecting the grouping’s growing emphasis on delivering practical developmental benefits alongside its strategic initiatives.

The announcements underscore the Quad’s evolving role as a platform for cooperation on regional security, technological resilience and sustainable development, even as member countries continue to emphasise that the grouping is not a military alliance.