Malabar Naval Exercise
#GS3 #Defence #Exercises
Phase 1 of the Malabar Naval Exercise was held recently with participation of Australian navy for the first time since 2007.
What is Malabar Exercise?
- It is a multilateral naval exercise that includes simulated war games and combat manoeuvres. It started in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between the Indian and US navies. Japan joined in 2015.
- This year the exercise will be held in two phases, the first will be held off the coast near Visakhapatnam, and the second in the Arabian Sea in mid-November. Last year it was held in early September off the coast of Japan.
- This year’s Malabar Exercise has been planned on a “non-contact-at sea” format keeping Covid-19 protocols in mind.
How is it different this year?
- For the first time in over a decade, the exercise will see the participation of all four Quad countries.
- This will be the second time Australia will participate. In 2007, there were two Malabar Exercises. The first was held off Okinawa island of Japan in the Western Pacific — the first time the exercise was held away from Indian shores — and the second in September 2007, off Visakhapatnam, with the Indian, Japanese, US, Australian and Singapore navies.
- The following year, Australia stopped participating. Japan became a regular participant only in 2015, making it a trilateral annual exercise since then.
