Malabar exercise begins

Malabar exercise begins
HERALD REPORTER
VASCO, APRIL 24
The 14th edition of ‘Malabar’, the annual bilateral Indo-US defense exercises commenced on Friday, off the Arabian Sea with the participation of destroyers, frigates class ships, nuclear submarines and aircraft.  
A joint statement issued by both countries – the Indian Navy and the U S Navy – was read out by Flag Officer of Goa Naval Area Rear Admiral Sudhir Pillai at a press briefing onboard INS Mysore on Saturday morning in the presence of CTF-70 Admiral Kavin Donegan, Commanding Officer of INS Mysore Captain Atul Jain, Commanding Officer of USS Shiloh Methew Loughlin and officers from both navies.
“The exercise is primarily aimed at deriving mutual benefit from each other experience such as training exchanges, information exchange and technical cooperation,” said Rear Admiral Sudhir Pillai.
“Both navies need to periodically exercise at sea to build interoperability, to share best practices and share common ideas in the interest of maritime security,” added Pillai.
The 14th edition of Malabar features ships from CTF 70 of the USN 7th Fleet which is based in Yokosuka, Japan. The CTF would include the Cruiser USS Shilon, Destroyers USS Chaffee, U S Lassen, and Frigate USS Curts and in addition Los Angeles class nuclear powered submarine USS Annapolish, two P3C Orion aircraft and 28 member U S Navy special force team will participate in the exercise, which will go on till May 2.   
The Indian Navy deployed its INS Mysore, Delhi class guided missile destroyer and three guided missile frigates INS Godavari, INS Brahamaputra and INS Tabar, in addition one Shishumar class submarine, INS Shankush and Sea Harrier fighters’ aircrafts and other fixed and rotary wing aircraft.
About 3,000 defense personnel from both countries will be involved in the exercise, but this seems to be a modest exercise compared to the 12th edition, when 8,500 officers from both countries had taken part in the exercise which included the participation of Ronald Reagan Strike Group (RRSG) Navy’s 7th Fleet including USS Springfield submarine, and a P3C Orion aircraft.
Both navies categorically denied that aircraft carrier would be the part of the exercise and CTF 70 Admiral Kavin Donegan said this was because of topographic reasons, log distance and other factors.
Donegan said the joint exercise is primarily aimed at deriving mutual benefits from the experience of the two participating expertise and confidence gained through interoperability during such exercise has proved to be immense use, particularly during humanitarian and disaster relief operation.
“The thrust of this year’s exercise would be anti-submarine warfare, surface firing, maritime interdiction operations, visit board search and seizure and submarine operation,” said Pillai.
Piracy: The exercise will also focus on tackling the threat of piracy in the Gulf of Aden.
The concern of India and US navies over growing piracy were clearly evident during press briefing on board INS Mysore at Mormugao Port, Vasco on Saturday.
“Anti-piracy operations are one of the best examples where two navies can coordinate with each other. We are conducting similar kind of exercises which are usually held during anti-piracy operations,” said Flag officer Commanding Goa Area (FOGA), Rear Admiral Sudhir Pillai.
He said the joint exercise would also highlight the sea piracy and cited the example of recent piracy in Somalian coast.   
“The Malabar exercise has proved to be operationally beneficial particularly during the ongoing anti-piracy operation in the Gulf of Aden,” added Pillai.
He said that piracy in Somali is a complex problem which could be dealt with cooperation and participation from different countries.