NEW DELHI: The top-notch Malabar naval exercise of India, the US, Japan and Australia will kick off in the Bay of Bengal on Tuesday, amid China’s continuing muscle-flexing in the South China Sea and expanding strategic footprint in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
The 28th edition of the Malabar exercise being hosted by India will be conducted off Visakhapatnam from October 8 to 18 to enhance interoperability, foster mutual understanding and address shared maritime challenges in the IOR and Indo-Pacific region, the Navy said on Saturday.
The ‘Quad’ leaders’ summit in Washington last month had declared that the four countries as “leading maritime democracies in the Indo-Pacific” would be a force for the good in the region, where “no country dominates and no country is dominated”.
The Malabar exercise began as a bilateral endeavour between India and the US in 1992 but now includes Japan and Australia as regular participants. In the forthcoming exercise, the US will field Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Dewey, with its integral helicopter, and P-8 maritime patrol aircraft.
While Australia will deploy Anzac-class frigate HMAS Stuart, with its MH-60R helicopter, and P-8 maritime aircraft, Japan will join the exercise with Murasame-class destroyer JS Ariake.
India, in turn, will deploy a Delhi-class destroyer, a Shivalik-class frigate, a Kamorta-class anti-submarine warfare corvette and a submarine, along with MiG-29K fighters, aircraft and helicopters.
“The exercise will see complex maritime operations such as anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare, and air defence exercises at sea, with an emphasis on improving situational awareness in the maritime domain,” Navy spokesperson Captain Vivek Madhwal said.
“Special forces from all the four nations will also be participating in the exercise,” he said. During the initial “harbour phase”, there will be a broad range of activities designed to enhance cooperation and operational capabilities, including discussions on special operations, surface, air, and anti-submarine warfare through “a subject matter expert exchange”, he added.
The Malabar comes shortly after the IAF held its first multi-nation “Tarang Shakti” air combat exercise in two phases at Sulur and Jodhpur in August-September, in which 67 fighters and military aircraft from 10 countries and observers from another 18 took part, to strengthen India’s military interoperability and strategic partnerships across the globe.
All the Quad countries and others like the UK, France, Germany, UAE, and Singapore participated in the exercise. India has been steadily ramping up its military ties with the Quad countries as well as other “like-minded” countries, which are concerned at China’s aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific.