Indian Navy engages US and Russia away from home
Ships of the Eastern Fleet, under the command of the
Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet, Rear Admiral R
K Dhowan, are presently on an 'Overseas Deployment'
(OSD) to the South-east and East-Asian regions. The
group consists of the guided-missile destroyers
Mysore, Rana, and Ranjit, the guided-missile corvette
Kuthar, and, the fleet tanker Jyoti.
During the two-month deployment, from 18 March to 23
May 07, the ships are scheduled to effect port-calls
at a number of ports, spreading the message of
goodwill, presenting a microcosmic mosaic of India in
every facet - from the sociological to the
technological, and, building bridges of friendship
across the seas that make every littoral state a
neighbour of India. The scheduled ports of call
include Singapore and Yokosuka (which is located at
the entrance of Tokyo Bay, in Japan). The port call
at Yokosuka is particularly significant as it is a
major event in the ongoing celebrations of '2007' as
the 'India-Japan Friendship Year'). No less important
are the port-calls at Qingdao (which is located on the
southern coast of the Shandong peninsula of China,
bordering the Yellow Sea) and Vladivostok (located on
the Sea of Japan, some 100 km east of the
Russo-Chinese border - the name itself means "Lord of
the East"). Also of significance are port-calls at Ho
Chi Minh city (located near the Mekong river delta in
Vietnam and earlier known as Saigon), and, Manila
(capital of the Philippines).
The deployment as a whole is an intrinsic part of the
ongoing effort at 'constructive engagement' within the
maritime field, being undertaken by the Indian Navy in
concert with other instruments and mechanisms of the
nation's diplomacy. The port-calls and the
opportunities to engage and exercise with the navies
of the regions would enable the Indian Navy to gain
and share operational and doctrinal expertise,
transformational experiences, examine and imbibe
'best-practices', promote interoperability, and,
enhance 'maritime domain awareness', - all of which
are areas that the Indian Navy lays especial emphasis
upon.
The first of the exercises to be undertaken during the
current deployment is the 2007 edition of the
bilateral exercise 'SIMBEX', which are a regular
feature of the operational interaction between the
Indian Navy and the Navy of the Republic of Singapore,
and, which involves both, harbour and sea-going
segments. This year, the first phase of exercise
''SIMBEX' was conducted in and off Port Blair, while
the second phase has just concluded at and off
Singapore, from 22 to 28 Mar 07.
The next on the agenda is the 2007 edition of the
annual exercise between the Indian and the US navies,
which bears the generic name 'MALABAR'. 'MALABAR
CY-07' (the acronym 'CY' stands for 'calendar year')
will also be undertaken in two phases, with the first
phase being with units of the USA's Pacific Command
and conducted off the Japanese island of Okinawa (-
which is the largest in Japan's Ryukyu chain of
islands that stretch well south of the four main
islands of that country), from 06 to 11 Apr 07. When
and where the second phase of 'Malabar-CY 07' will
take place is still under examination.
The Eastern Fleet commander will then split his
forces. One group of two destroyers will proceed to
Qingdao from 12-16 Apr 07, where they will, on 17
April, exercise with units of the navy of the People's
Republic of China. The remaining ships will, on 17
Apr 07 itself, undertake a daylong trilateral
exercise, off Yokosuka, with units of the 'Japanese
Maritime Self Defence Force' (JMSDF) and the US navy.
The Indian naval force will consolidate itself
thereafter and proceed to Vladivostok, where they will
engage in the harbour phase (22 to 24 Apr 07) and,
later, the sea-going phase (24 to 26 Apr 07) of the
biennial exercise 'Indra-2007', involving units of the
Russian Navy. During the return leg of the
deployment, once the fleet-units are off the
Philippines, they will once again split into two
groups, with one group engaging in 'passage-exercises'
with units of the navy of the Philippines, and the
other, engaging units of the navy of the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam in similar passage exercises.
Two ships of the fleet will thereafter proceed to
Singapore to participate in the 2007 edition of the
prestigious 'International Maritime Defence
Exhibition' (IMDEX) hosted every two years by that
country. INS Mysore and Kuthar would participate in
'IMDEX' at Singapore from 15 to 19 May 07. This would
provide us with an opportunity to showcase our ship
building capability through these indigenously
designed and built ships, as also our ability to align
and keep pace with the rapid technological
advancements in the field of military hardware and
systems. The Chief of the Naval Staff will, himself be
present for the event, as will his counterparts from
as many as twenty-two countries. IMDEX-2007 will be
followed by a passage-exercise involving all
participating navies and our ships will be
representing our country in this activity as well.
The final operational engagement will be a bilateral
passage-exercise with ships of the 'Royal New Zealand
Navy', before the deployment draws to a close at Port
Blair, from where ships will resume their normal
in-country activities.
The Indian Navy ships proceeding on the overseas
deployment are, as always, equipped to provide
humanitarian assistance and disaster-relief at short
notice, if required. This stems from our experience
of the past, wherein our ships, while on overseas
deployments, have had to be diverted to render
assistance. In 2006, for example, such short-notice
assistance was called-for and provided to Indonesia
(in the aftermath of the Yogyakarta earthquake) and
was also in evidence during the non-combatant
evacuation operations (Op Sukoon) undertaken in
respect of a number of nationals, who were safely
moved from the war-ravaged port of Beirut to Cyprus,
during the Israeli action in Lebanon.
VG/AK
(Release ID :26495)