With the completion of the Port Blairto Chennai undersea IUSS sensor cable link
(see Map A below) India and the US have concluded political/technical agreements to most fully exploit it. USNS Zeus(T-ARC-7) is the most likely ship to have laid the sensor cable link.
India is reliant on the US Navy (backed by US Naval Intelligence and the NSA) to most thoroughly identify Chinese submarines and surface ships physically crossing the link or Chinese sonar signals being triangulated by nodes.
The agreements include a Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) within the US Combined Enterprise Regional Information Exchange System (CENTRIXS). This agreement part was reported early September 2018 in the Indian media.
The sensor link could be described as a major Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS) (old name "SOSUS") infrastructure project with the link being an extension to the Indo-Pacific undersea "fishhook" sensor link. (see Map B)
The Port Blair to Chennai link can be patrolled by the Sea Guardian Predator B/Reaper UAV variants (see Indian website) sold to India by the US in 2017.
In time of conflict if the link sensors and/or Sea Guardians detect hostile Chinese (or Bangladesh Navy Ming) submarines or ships then Indian P-8I "Neptune" maritime patrol aircraft, sold by the US, can use their sensors or weapons. Indian submarines, surface ships and land based cruise missiles can also "weaponise" the link.
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(see Map A below) India and the US have concluded political/technical agreements to most fully exploit it. USNS Zeus(T-ARC-7) is the most likely ship to have laid the sensor cable link.
India is reliant on the US Navy (backed by US Naval Intelligence and the NSA) to most thoroughly identify Chinese submarines and surface ships physically crossing the link or Chinese sonar signals being triangulated by nodes.
The agreements include a Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) within the US Combined Enterprise Regional Information Exchange System (CENTRIXS). This agreement part was reported early September 2018 in the Indian media.
The sensor link could be described as a major Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS) (old name "SOSUS") infrastructure project with the link being an extension to the Indo-Pacific undersea "fishhook" sensor link. (see Map B)
The Port Blair to Chennai link can be patrolled by the Sea Guardian Predator B/Reaper UAV variants (see Indian website) sold to India by the US in 2017.
In time of conflict if the link sensors and/or Sea Guardians detect hostile Chinese (or Bangladesh Navy Ming) submarines or ships then Indian P-8I "Neptune" maritime patrol aircraft, sold by the US, can use their sensors or weapons. Indian submarines, surface ships and land based cruise missiles can also "weaponise" the link.
Map A - Port Blair is a base on India's Andaman & Nicobar Islands territory while Chennai is a major city with an average size naval base on India's south eastern coast. (Map originally in this SubMatters article https://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2016/01/p-8-poseidons-becoming-operational-and.html )
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Map B - May depict past or current IUSS (was SOSUS) undersea Indo-Pacific sensor positions. Note the Indian Ocean point of the "hook" terminated near Port Blair, Andaman Islands, This is from page 54 “Map 4. The US ‘Fish Hook’ Undersea Defense Line” of Desmond Ball and Richard Tanter, The Tools of Owatatsumi Japan’s Ocean Surveillance and Coastal Defence Capabilities (2015, ANU Press) http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p309261/pdf/book.pdf?referer=444. (Originally published at this 2015 SubMatters article https://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2015/09/how-to-trap-chinese-dragon-seawebs.html and at https://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2016/05/part-2-undersea-webs-us-japan-se-asia.html).
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Map C - India's coastal defence intelligence network, with the Command Centre at Gurgaon in central India. It is likely that the network of India's NSA (the NTRO) may coincide to a degree. (Map originally in this 2016 SubMatters article https://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2016/05/a-steady-development-of-internet.html )
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IUSS links are likely to be in many more strategically important places - some of importance to India.
Pete