Indian Navy, Royal Australian Navy hold 'AUSINDEX' maritime warfare exercises
Indian Navy’s platforms like INS Shivalik and INS Kadmatt are participating along with Australian Navy frigate HMAS Warramunga.
FollowNew Delhi: Navies of India and Australia began their biennial AUSINDEX maritime warfare exercise in Darwin under Australia’s Northern Territory, aiming to further enhance their interoperability in the Indo-Pacific region amidst China's assertiveness.
The exercise which would conclude on September 13, will provide both the navies an opportunity to strengthen joint defence capabilities in support of a stable and secure Indo-Pacific region.
Rear Admiral Tarun Sobti, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet, said the exercise would build on the recent navy-to-navy warfare training that was conducted during Phase One of Exercise MALABAR 21 off Guam.
“This exercise will further strengthen the bilateral partnership and interoperability with the Royal Australian Navy in the Indo-Pacific region. We are looking forward to adopting best practices from the RAN and to build on the warfare training standards achieved in Exercise MALABAR 21,” he said.
Commander Australian Fleet, Rear Admiral Mark Hammond said that the fourth iteration of AUSINDEX will deepen the Defence relationship between our two nations.
“Australia and India are comprehensive strategic partners. We share a commitment to increasing the regularity and complexity of our military training so we can be confident in our ability to work effectively to respond to the maritime security needs in our region,” he said.
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“Each time our nations come together we develop further maritime interoperability by exercising more involved warfare serials demonstrating our strong commitment to an open, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region,” he said.
The harbour phase of the exercise commenced on Sunday in Darwin while the sea phase would be held in the North Australian exercise area.
Indian Navy’s platforms like INS Shivalik and INS Kadmatt are participating along with Australian Navy frigate HMAS Warramunga.
The ships will be joined by an Australian submarine, a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P-8A maritime patrol aircraft, RAAF tactical fighter jets, as well as embarked helicopters from both navies.
The two countries first held maritime exercise in 2015. The previous edition of AUSINDEX was held in the Bay of Bengal in 2019, which saw the first anti-submarine warfare exercises and also the first coordinated P‑8 maritime patrol aircraft missions.
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