Gulf of Aden in the western Arabia Sea falls under the area of responsibility of the Western Naval Command of the Indian Navy. The ships from the Command regularly maintain surveillance in the piracy infested region off the Somali Coast and Gulf of Aden either individually or as part of cooperative engagements with the friendly foreign navies.

Due to the increase in incident of piracy in this region, the Command is maintaining ships on Presence-cum-Surveillance mission in the region. How ever the Indian navy says that the itervention by the Navy to counter an act of piracy or any other specific mission would be undertaken only upon direct approval from the Govt of India.