Malabar Naval Exercise Begins

For the first time, the Australian Navy is participating in the Malabar Navy Exercise.

Phase 1 of the Malabar Navy Exercise is going to start on 3^rd November.
Since 2007, for the first time, the Australian Navy is going to take part in the exercise.

Malabar Naval Exercise is a multilateral exercise.
The exercise includes simulated war games and combat tactics.
It was started as a bilateral exercise between India and the USA navies in 1992.
Later, it was joined by Japan in 2015 and transformed into a multilateral exercise.
This year, the exercise will have a new member, the Australian Navy.
Also, this year, the Malabar exercise will be conducted in two phases.
The first phase is on 3^rdNovember off the coast of Visakhapatnam.
The second phase is in mid-November in the Arabian-Sea.
In 2019, the exercise was held in September off the coast of Japan.
Considering the COVID-19 protocols, this year’s exercise has been planned on a “non-contact-at sea’.

This year’s exercise is different as the exercise will see the participation of all the Quad countries.
The exercise will help India to increase its cooperation with other countries in the maritime security domain and also to increase defence cooperation with Australia.
There were two Malabar exercises in 2007.
The first phase was held at Okinawa island off Japan in the Western Pacific and for the first time, it was held away from the Indian shores.
The second phase was held in September off the coast of Visakhapatnam and was participated by India, Japan, the US, Australia and Singapore navies.
Australia stopped participating and Japan became a regular participant in 2015.
The participation of four big navies from the Indo-pacific region will send a strong message to China.

The Indian Navy conducted several Passage Exercises (PASSEX).
The Passage Exercises (PASSEX) were conducted with navies of Japan, Australia and the US.
These exercises were conducted to increase operability between navies.
With the Royal Australian Navy, the Indian Navy conducted PASSEX.
In July, Indian conducted the passage exercise with the US carrier strike group, USS Nimitz.
The USS Nimitz, the US carrier is one of the largest warships in the world.
After completing the freedom of navigation exercise in the South China Sea, the carrier strike group passed through the Indian Ocean region.
In June, a similar exercise was conducted with the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force.