Indian Ocean Region Security: India concludes massive naval combat exercise amid growing China-Pak maritime collusiveness | India News
NEW DELHI: India’s massive three-month long naval combat exercise, with 65-70 warships, 10 submarines and over 80 aircraft and helicopters, has now ended after testing operational preparedness and honing warfighting skills in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), amid expanding maritime collusiveness between China and Pakistan.
The Tropex or the ‘theatre level operational readiness exercise’, which is conducted biennially, brought the Navy’s western and eastern fleets together as well as included “substantial participation” from the Army, IAF and Coast Guard for the intense drills.
“The exercise provided a valuable evaluation of the Navy’s ability to respond to multifarious challenges in a synchronised and integrated manner to defend national maritime security interests. It helped validate many concepts of operations,” Navy spokesperson Captain Vivek Madhwal said on Friday.
The theatre of operations for the exercise extended approximately 4,300 nautical miles from the north to the south and 5,000 nautical miles from the Strait of Hormuz in the west to the Sunda and Lombok Straits in the east.
The Navy deployed indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, the Visakhapatnam and Kolkata-class guided-missile destroyers and Kalvari-class diesel-electric submarines, among others, as well as MiG-29K fighter jets, P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft, MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones and MH-60R submarine-hunting helicopters for the exercise.
Towards enhancing synergy and jointness, the other Services were also integrated into the exercise, with participation of an infantry brigade with over 600 troops from the Army, while IAF deployed Sukhoi-30MKI and Jaguar fighters, C-130J `Super Hercules’ special operations planes and AWACS aircraft. The Coast Guard, in turn, took part with over 10 ships and aircraft. “The exercise achieved a very high level of operational synergy in planning and execution of theatre level scenarios with the other Services,” Capt Madhwal said.
With the world’s largest navy with over 370 warships and submarines, China deploys seven to eight naval vessels and spy ships in the IOR at any given time. It is working to increase its “underwater domain awareness” in the region by mapping oceanographic and other data useful for navigation and submarine operations.
Concurrently, China is helping Pakistan build a bigger naval force, having already delivered four Type 054A/P multi-role frigates and other assets to Islamabad, with eight Yuan-class diesel-electric submarines now in the pipeline.
“These eight new submarines will add significant combat potential to the Pakistan Navy. We are fully aware of their capabilities. That is why we are tweaking our plans and concepts to negate any infringement of our interests. We are fully ready to take on any challenge,” Navy chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi had said earlier.
