The sea phase of the inaugural Singapore India Thailand Maritime Exercise (SITMEX-19) commenced in the Andaman Sea on September 18, 2019, the Indian Navy said.
The trilateral exercise involving the Indian Navy, the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and the Royal Thai Navy (RTN) is taking place from September 16 to 20.
#BridgesofFriendship Sea Phase of maiden #SITMEX -19 (Singapore India Thailand Maritime Exercise), between #IndianNavy , #RepublicofSingaporeNavy (RSN) & #RoyalThaiNavy (RTN) commenced in the #AndamanSea today. #MaritimeInteroperability pic.twitter.com/9JZgufNOjc
— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) September 18, 2019
Indian guided missile destroyer Ranvir, missile corvette Kora and offshore patrol vessel Sumedha along with long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft P8I are jointly exercising with Singapore’s Formidable-class multi-role stealth frigate RSS Tenacious and Thai guided missile frigate HTMS Kraburi.
They are engaged in various gunnery, force protection measures, air defence and communication exercises to enhance maritime interoperability between the participating navies.
Sea riders have also been exchanged between the participating ships to provide experience sharing of best practices, according to the Indian Navy.
Early, the harbour phase of SITMEX-19 culminated at Port Blair and included professional interaction in the form of subject matter expert exchanges (SMEE), pre-sail conferences attended by command teams and friendly basketball matches between joint teams from participating ships.