Indo-US Naval Exercise from Apr 7

CHENNAI: The 2012 edition of the annual Indo-US Naval Exercise, code named Malabar, would held in the Bay of Bengal from April seven. The ten day exercise would continue till April 16 and would see the participation of frontline units from both the Indian and US Navies. The Harbour phase scheduled from April seven to nine would be held at Chennai wherein both Navies would participate in professional seminars. The Sea Phase would be held in the Bay of Bengal and will encompass a wide spectrum of exercise ranging from conventional War Fight Mission to Asymmetric Warfare. The focus areas of the Exercise would be Boarding Operations, Air Defence Exercises, Helicopter cross deck Operations and co-ordinate Anti Submarine Warfare, a Defence release here today said. The US Navy would be represented by ships from Carrier Task Force (CTF) 70 of the US 7th Fleet which is based at Yokosuka, Japan. The CTF would include the Aircraft carrier USS Carl Vision, Guided Missile Cruiser USS Bunkerhill, Guided Missile Destroyer USS Halsey and logistics ship UNNS Bridge. In addition one Los Angeles class submarine, USS Louisville and one P3C Orion Aircraft will participate in the Exercise. The Indian Navy would be represented by the indigenously built Guided Missile Frigate INS Satpur, Guided Missile Destroyers INS Ranvijay and INS Ranvir Missile Corvette, INS Kulish and Fleet Tanker INS Shakti. In addition Maritime Patrol Aircraft TU142M and other Rotary Wing Aircraft are also scheduled to participate in the bilateral Exercise. The Naval cooperation between Indian and the US refl ects the long-term defence relationship between both the countries. The two Navies have, over the years collaborated over a wide spectrum of activities and exercise to advance the maritime partnership. Malabar-2012 will be the 16th in the series of structured bilateral exercise since 1992 that have steadily grown in scope and complexity. The inter-operability achieved over the years as a result of such exercise has proved to be operationally benefi cial during the ongoing Anti Piracy Operations in the Gulf of Aden as also during humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations.