The 2012 edition of the annual Indo-US Naval Exercise code-named Malabar being held in the Bay of Bengal commenced on Saturday, 07 Apr 12 at Chennai.
The ten days exercise that will continue till 16 Apr 12 will see the participation of frontline units from both navies. The Harbour phase scheduled from 07-09 Apr is being held at Chennai wherein both Navies will participate in professional seminars. The Sea phase will extend from Chennai to the Andaman Islands and will encompass a wide spectrum of exercise ranging from conventional War Fight Missions to Asymmetric Warfare. The focus areas of the exercise will be Boarding Operations, Air Defence Exercise, Helicopter cross deck Operations and co-ordinated Anti Submarine warfare.
The US Navy will be represented by ships from Carrier Task Force 70 of the US 7th Fleet which is based at Yokosuka, Japan. The CTF will include the Aircraft Carrier USS Carl Vison, Guided Missile Cruiser USS Bunkerhill, Guided Missile Destroyer USS Halsey and logistics ship USNS Bridge. In addition, one Los Angeles Class submarine, USS Louisville and one P3C Orion Aircraft are scheduled to participate in the Exercise.
The Indian Navy will be represented by the indigenously built Guided Missile Frigate INS Satpura, Guided Missile Destroyers INS Ranvijay and INS Ranvir, Missile Corvette INS Kulish, and Fleet Tanker INS Shakti. In addition, Maritime Patrol Aircraft TU 142M and other Rotary Wing Aircraft are also scheduled to participate in the bilateral exercise.
The naval cooperation between India and the USA reflects the long term strategic relationship between two countries. Their navies have, over the years, collaborated over a wide spectrum of activities and exercises to advance the maritime partnership. Malabar 12 will be the sixteenth in the series of structured bilateral exercises since 1992 that have steadily grown in scope and complexity. The interoperability achieved over the years as a result of such exercise has proved to be operationally beneficial during the ongoing Anti Piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden as also during humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff , April 11, 2012;