NEW DELHI: The Indian and the US navies on Monday conducted a joint exercise in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in a strong strategic message to China amid confrontation in eastern Ladakh.
The Indian Navy said, “The Passage Exercise near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands involved the United States’ Carrier Strike Group (CSG) led by aircraft carrier Nimitz and units of Indian Navy’s Eastern Fleet and Andaman and Nicobar Command.”
The CSG recently concluded its operational deployment along with another aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in the South China Sea and had crossed the Strait of Malacca on Saturday to pass through the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
The ‘Passage Exercise’ includes a shorter form of interaction where the two sides have established interoperability. The maneuvers carried out in such an exercise involve a simulated environment.
The warships in the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group consisted of flagship USS Nimitz, guided missile cruiser USS Princeton, and guided missile destroyers USS Sterett and USS Ralph Johnson. Indian Navy ships INS Rana (Destroyer), stealth frigates Sahyadri and Shivalik and Kamorta (anti-submarine Corvettes) participated in the Passage Exercise.
Navies of the two countries have already institutionalized the Malabar series of maritime exercises being held since 1992. Japan’s Maritime Self Defence Force has also become a part of this exercise since 2015. Sources said discussions are on to invite Australia to this format of the exercise. The navies of India, US, Japan and Australia – the grouping known as ‘Quad’ – can have a formal military engagement among them.
China in the recent years has increased its maritime operations in the IOR with a deployment of around eight warships on anti-piracy mission. Using the same mission, China has sent its submarines, both nuclear and conventional.
Before the ‘Passage Exercise,’ the Navy’s Eastern Fleet and the assets of the country’s Andaman and Nicobar Tri-services Command were engaged in a multidimensional exercise in the area in the vicinity of the Strait of Malacca.