INDRA-2005 Indian and Russian Navies engage in bilateral exercises
INDRA-2005, a biennial bilateral exercise between the
armed forces of Russia and India, is scheduled to be
conducted from the 10 - 20 Oct 05. The naval part of
the exercise will be conducted on the Eastern
Seaboard, off the coast of Visakhapatnam, from 14 to
20 Oct 05.
The first Indo-Russian bilateral Naval exercise INDRA
2003 was conducted both on the Western and Eastern
seaboards from 20-23 May 03 and from 29 May-04 Jun 03
respectively. The exercise, primarily aimed at
enhancing mutually beneficial cooperative engagement
between the navies of the two countries, was
christened INDRA. This was derived from the country
names viz. India and Russia.
INDRA-2005 has a considerably wider scope than the
last exercise. Five Russian Naval Ships including one
Missile Cruiser, two Destroyers, one Tanker and one
Ocean going tug will arrive Visakhapatnam on 14 Oct
05. The Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific
Fleet, Vice Admiral Sergey Viktorovich Avramenko,
would be embarked upon the Missile Cruiser 'Varyag".
The officers and sailors of the participating units
along with the staff of Eastern Naval Command will
engage in various activities in harbour including the
Pre-Sailing Conference at Visakhapatnam on 15-16 Oct
05. The exercises at sea will include various surface
firing, air defence and anti-submarine warfare
exercises. These would be conducted from 17-19 Oct 05.
Debrief for the exercises has been planned on 20 Oct
05 at Visakhapatnam.
Another important feature of this exercise is that the
exercise will be witnessed at sea by the Russian
Defence Minister, Mr Sergei Ivanov, and Raksha Mantri,
Mr Pranab Mukherjee, on 18Oct 05. The Russian
delegation will include dmiral Vladimir V Masorin,
Commander-in-Chief Russian Navy and a number of other
high-ranking officers of the Russian Navy. A press
conference at sea, with members of the Russian and
Indian media has also been planned onboard INS Mumbai
on18 Oct 05.
Such exercises not only provide a new dimension to the
relationship between the armed forces of the two
countries towards building mutual trust and better
understanding of each other, but also forge a stronger
foundation on which the friendship between the two
nations would continue to flourish.
VG/AK