65 ships, 80 planes part of 3-month military exercise

A massive ongoing Indian military exercise in the Indian Ocean is carrying out operations to validate and refine the concept of operations, including forward deployment and ability of the Navy, Indian Air Force and the Army to operate jointly.

The exercise called ‘Tropex’ is a three-month-long deployment at sea. It is being conducted from January to March. It has warships at sea near key locations across the Indian Ocean. This includes a deployment of 65 warships, nine submarines and over 80 aircraft of different types.

A series of complex maritime operational scenarios have been part of the drills aimed at coordinated planning, precise targeting, combat effectiveness and credible joint operations.

Indian Navy, Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Coast Guard assets are part of massive exercise.

The Navy said it is about validating Indian Navy’s core warfighting skills, and ensuring a synchronised, integrated response to preserve and protect national maritime security interests in a contested maritime environment against conventional, asymmetric as well as hybrid threats.

The exercise is being conducted in various phases — both in harbour and at sea, integrating various facets of combat operations, cyber and electronic warfare operations, live weapon firings and an amphibious exercise —- which are for landing a large body of troops and equipment at a designated spot.

Tropex is witnessing participation of platforms like indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, warships INS Visakhapatnam and INS Kolkata, Kalvari Class submarines and aircraft fleet comprising MiG 29K jets, surveillance planes, long-range drones and helicopters.

Towards enhancing jointness amongst the Services, IAF jets – the Sukhoi-30MKI and Jaguar — were joined by tactical lift planes — the C-130-J aircraft. An infantry brigade of the Army with over 600 troops is part of the exercise and the Coast Guard has more than 10 ships and aircraft.