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India, U.S. Strengthen Military Ties, Begin Joint Naval Exercises
By Danish A Khan, Special to
IslamOnline
NEW DELHI, September 27 (IslamOnline)
- Indian and U.S. naval forces began their largest-ever exercises
Thursday, September 26, in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Kochi in
the south Indian state of Kerala. Deemed as one of the biggest war
games so far jointly conducted by the two largest democracies in the
world, the exercises are clear indicators of the growing and deepening
ties between the two countries.
According to a U.S. Embassy
spokesperson, nearly 750 American personnel and state-of-art warships
are taking part in the maneuvers.
“For the next eight days U.S. Navy
Ticonderoga class guided missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville, the
Spurance class destroyer USS Paul F Foster and a P-3C Orion Maritime
reconnaissance aircraft will be engaged in war games with Indian naval
warships,” the spokesperson said.
Codenamed “Exercise Malabar,” the
naval operation will conclude on October 3. The exercises which
include surface-to-surface and air events, including personnel
exchanges, are aimed at increasing the inter-operability of the two
navies.
This is the fourth in the Malabar
Exercise series. Malabar I, II and III, the first three joint
exercises in the series, were held in the mid-1990s, the last one
having been held in 1996. After nuclear tests at Pokhran in the desert
state of western India, Rajasthan, U.S. called off further exercises
and put the whole program on hold. Not only this, economic sanctions
were briefly slapped on the country. Even the sale of spare parts of
U.S.-supplied weapons were refused by Washington.
However, with the September 11
attacks on the United States and the drastic change in the global
security situation, the Bush administration aiming to include India in
its fight against terrorism decided to put its decision regarding
India on the back-burner. The US decision to release spare parts for
the Indian Navy’s Sea King helicopters last August ensured that the
chapter of U.S. sanctions was now over.
Consequently, both India and the U.S.
decided in principle to revive the Malabar series of joint naval
exercises when India’s Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Madhvendra Singh
visited Washington the third week of this month. The efforts aimed at
setting the pace for larger navy interaction.
On conclusion of Admiral Singh’s
visit to the U.S., an Indian Navy press statement said, “The two
sides have had intense interface on defense matters over the last year
and have reiterated their desire to further strengthen the defense
relationship. The two sides also had an extensive exchange of views on
global and regional security issues.”
Naval exercises would be upgraded to
include search and rescue exercises to help vessels in distress in the
Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea.
Briefing media persons, Indian
officials said that the navy would field its latest Delhi class
destroyer, Godavari class frigate, a SSK class submarine and TU-142
long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft, acquired from Russia, in
the exercises.
Both the forces would be working
together in a variety of skill areas, including cross-decking of
helicopters, formation steaming, coordination gun shoots, and
anti-submarine warfare training during the exercise.
The U.S. forces, besides
participating in exercise-related planning and briefings, would enjoy
cultural exchanges and social activities among themselves and with the
locals.
As part of support for “Operation
Enduring Freedom” being presently waged by the U.S. and its allies
in the fight against global terrorism following September 11 attacks,
India has opened its ports to U.S. naval vessels following an entirely
informal agreement reached between the two governments.
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