‘Exercise Malabar-15’, a naval exercise involving India, the US and Japan, got off to a spectacular start in the Bay of Bengal on Thursday.
The six-day exercise, which will conclude on October 19, aims at increasing the interoperability among the three navies and also to develop a common understanding for maritime security operations.
The current edition, which is the 19th overall, will feature wide-ranging professional interactions at harbour and diverse operational activities at sea. In a joint media interaction on board the INS Shivalik on Thursday, Navy Vice-Admiral B K Verma along with his American and Japanese counterparts, J P Aucoin and Y Murakawa, respectively, said ‘Exercise Malabar-15’ will be another significant step in strengthening mutual confidence and sharing best practices between the three countries.
“This exercise will also go a long way in enhancing maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region for the benefit of the global maritime community,” they said, adding “the thrust of exercises at sea this year will be anti-submarine warfare, surface firings, air defence, visit board search”.
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