A Country's first defense is a STRONG NAVY...Why is the USA's NAVY shrinking whilst the world is a more dangerous place with 3rd world countries producing and testing multiple nukes, and NOW, having and deploying UAV's at SEA?
Err,deploying UAVs at sea & using them in a maritime role are 2 very different things & the IN isn't anywhere close to achieving the first capability.Only the US has that.Moreover,the IN is developing into a serious partner of the USN.The base where this squadron is deployed has hosted atleast 2 joint exercises in the past 3 years.
About the USN shrinking,well,it's budget is still far higher than the entire Indian defence outlay...many times over.