Dornier, C-130 aircraft deployed to Australia’s strategic Cocos (Keeling) Islands

An Indian Navy Dornier maritime patrol aircraft and an IAF C-130 transport aircraft visited Australia’s Cocos (Keeling) Islands (CKI) in the Southern Indian Ocean, close to Indonesia in early July, sources said

Expanding the strategic reach of the Indian military and improving interoperability with Australia, an Indian Navy Dornier maritime patrol aircraft and an Indian Air Force (IAF) C-130 transport aircraft visited Australia’s Cocos (Keeling) Islands (CKI) in the Southern Indian Ocean, close to Indonesia and strategic maritime choke points earlier this month, diplomatic and official sources confirmed.

“Cocos can be an important base for refuelling and Operational Turnaround for the Indian military, especially once the runway there is expanded to accommodate large aircraft like the P-8 long range maritime patrol aircraft,” an official source said on condition of anonymity, while confirming the visit by the Dornier and C-130 aircraft. According to diplomatic sources, the aircraft were at Cocos for close to a week.

Neither the Indian Navy nor the IAF responded to questions from The Hindu on the subject.

In a July 7 article published by The Strategist,the commentary and analysis site of Canberra-based think tank, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, David Brewster and Samuel Bashfield wrote that this week, several aircraft from the Indian Navy and the IAF made a “ground-breaking visit” to Australia’s CKI.

“This week’s visit by Indian Navy Dornier maritime patrol aircraft and a C-130 Hercules from the IAF effectively elevates the Cocos Islands as a staging point for Australian and Indian air surveillance of the maritime choke points through Southeast Asia and the entire eastern Indian Ocean,” they wrote in the article titled ‘Indian aircraft visit Cocos Islands as Australia strengthens its maritime security network’. “The visit represents an important step in the bilateral relationship as the two countries increasingly give each other access to their military facilities in the Indian Ocean,” they added.

This is the latest in a series of India’s growing military to military engagements, deepening interoperability broadly in the region and especially with Australia. In February, in another first, an Indian Navy Kilo class conventional submarine, I.N.S. Sindhukesari, which was on operational deployment, travelled through the Sunda Strait and docked in Jakarta, Indonesia for Operational Turnaround.

Even before the Indian military reached there, Cocos Islands had been a point of cooperation between the space agencies of the two countries for India’s Gaganyaan human space flight mission. Australia’s active support in establishing a temporary ground station at CKI for the Gaganyaan missions, and potential opportunities for cooperation in earth observation, satellite navigation, space situational awareness, weather and climate studies using satellite data, were the highlights of the discussion, an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) statement had said during the visit of Enrico Palermo, head of the Australian Space Agency (ASA) to the ISRO’s headquarters in September 2022.