AMN
India, US and Japan today began their joint naval exercise Malabar 2017 off Chennai coast. It will conclude on the July 17.
This year, two aircraft carriers by India and the United States and a Japanese helicopter destroyer form part of the warships that join the annual naval drills.
Indian naval sources told AIR that all the participating vessels have arrived and anchored near Chennai and the three defence forces flag officers have held a formal meeting about the exercise yesterday.
The operations as part of the three-nation exercise includes anti-submarine warfare, familiarization with inter-operability between the three maritime forces, search and rescue and seizure missions and many other drills.
This edition of the Exercise Malabar has the distinction of having Indian aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya participating for the first time. It joins the fleet along with the USS Nimitz supercarrier and Japan’s Izumo-class helicopter carrier.
The USS Nimitz is known as the world’s largest aircraft carrier that joins the annual exercise. Malabar Exercise began as an Indo-US bilateral naval drill in 1992, and Japan formally joined the series as a permanent participant in 2015. In 2007, the exercise also included vessels from Australia and Singapore.
All the three participating nations have clarified earlier that the Malabar series is not aimed at any specific country. The exercise serves to enhance mutual understanding of the naval operations among the participating nations and deepen defence relations.