SOURCE: REPULIBC TV
Taking to Twitter, the Indian Navy shared a small video of the ongoing Malabar Naval Exercise 2020 in the Indian Ocean, which includes navies from all members of the Quad nations. Tagging United States Navy, Royal Australian Navy and Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF), Indian Navy stated that all the navy ships are ‘enhancing interoperability’.
The first phase of 24th edition of Malabar Naval Exercise commenced in the Indian Ocean on November 3, in Vishakhapatnam in the Bay of Bengal. The second phase of the exercise is scheduled to be conducted in the Arabian Sea in mid-November 2020.
US Navy also took to Twitter, to share the pictures of USS John S. McCain as she conducts ‘replenishment-at-sea approaches’ with ships of JMSDF, Australian Navy as well as Indian Navy during the ongoing Malabar 2020. US Navy further added the quadrilateral naval exercise is aimed at enhancing cooperation between the Quad nation navies ‘who routinely operate and ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific’.
Phase 1 of Malabar 2020
The first phase will see the participation of United States Ship (USS) John S McCain which is a guided-missile destroyer along with long-range frigate HMAS Ballarat and MH-60 helicopter from Royal Australian Navy. SH-60 helicopter and destroyer JS Onami will participate in the exercise from Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF). From Indian Navy destroyer INS Ranvijay, frigate INS Shivalik, patrol vessel INS Sukanya and fleet support ship INS Shakti along with submarine INS Sindhuraj will take part in Malabar 2020. The Naval aircrafts participating in the exercise are advanced jet trainer Hawk, maritime patrol aircrafts Dornier and P-8I along with helicopters Dhruv and Chetak.
Malabar Naval Exercise
Malabar exercise originally began in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between the Indian Navy and US Navy. In 2015, the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force became a permanent partner of Malabar. This exercise is a quadrilateral naval exercise that includes Quad nations- India, United States, Japan and Australia as permanent partners. Singapore has participated in the Malabar exercise as a non-permanent partner in 2007. For the first time in 2020, all members of the Quad nations will come together for the Malabar Naval Exercise 2020 as the Royal Australian Navy accepted India’s invitation to join the exercise.
