Army dominance narrowed British India's defence choices

The Government of India was reluctant to fund naval bases at Bombay and Madras or new air and maritime institutions. Its strategic culture centered on the British Indian Army, whose scale could make land defence seem like the end of planning rather than one service among several. That bias complicated the creation of an Indian air force and made Trincomalee harder to champion despite its location. A secure base can still fail when the government expected to support it directs its attention and money almost entirely to another service. This helps explain why an Indian Ocean alternative was politically weaker than its position on a map suggests.