The biennial exercise 'Tropex' covered over 21 million square nautical miles and lasted for four months
Indian Navy’s largest wargame 'TROPEX-2023' culminated this week in the Arabian Sea after four months of exercising across the expanse of the Indian Ocean Region. The biennial exercise 'Tropex' saw the participation of around 70 ships, six submarines and more than 75 aircraft, and it covered over 21 million square nautical miles
In these exercises, the columns from the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force and the Indian Coast Guard also participated in a coordinated manner. Set in the Indian Ocean, including the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, "the theatre of operations for the exercise extended approximately 4300 nm from North to South upto 35 deg South Latitude and 5000 nm from the Persian Gulf in the West to North Australia coast in the East, spanning an area of over 21 million square nautical miles", the Indian Navy said.
During the four-month exercise, a total of 70 Indian Navy ships, six submarines and over 75 aircraft participated. As part of the final joint phase, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also spent a day at sea onboard the newly-commissioned Indigenous Aircraft Carrier Vikrant on March 6. During his day at sea onboard INS Vikrant, which was commissioned in September last year, Rajnath reviewed the Indian Navy’s operational preparedness, and material readiness wherein the Navy demonstrated operational manoeuvers and various facets of combat operations, including deck operations of indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and live weapon firings.
During his address to the fleets, the defence minister lauded the operational preparedness of the Indian Navy and emphasised that the country looks up to the Navy to ensure that the economic lifelines and military capabilities of our adversaries are disrupted to the extent where their warfighting endeavours can no longer be sustained.
Rajnath further said that he ws fully reassured that the Indian Navy was wholly capable of safeguarding India's national interests in the maritime domain and thwart the diabolical designs of any potential adversaries who seek to threaten India's peaceful existence. "The culmination of the exercise brings to an end an intense operational phase for the Indian Navy that commenced in November 2022," Navy spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal said.