New Delhi, Feb. 10 (ANI): Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma today dismissed China’s anti-ship missile programme as a threat to Indian warships, saying that it is a difficult task to even spot the vessels in the vast expanse of high seas.

He said the identifying an object in sea is more difficult than identifying things on land.

“You have hundreds and thousands of ships in sea at one time, it is not as simple as identifying things on land, where across the border, short of civil population, you exactly know what is happening,” Admiral Verma told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on aircraft carriers organised by the National Maritime Foundation in New Delhi.

“It is because of problem of identification, targeting ships at high seas is not an easy task. There are limitations in terms of maritime reconnaissance and long-range searches,” he added.

Speaking to the reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on aircraft carriers organised by the National Maritime Foundation in New Delhi on Wednesday (February 10).

C Uday Bhaskar, Strategic Analyst, who also participated in the event, stressed on the strategic importance of island nations in the Indian Ocean in the coming days.

“When we talk about energy security again and again, their importance of Indian Ocean is going to increase manifolds. So it is necessary for India to form a strategy on Southern Indian Ocean. In that context Maldives and Seychelles are very important to India,” said C Uday Bhaskar, Strategic Analyst. (ANI)