Quad navies begin ‘Malabar’ exercise

The nine-day exercise from November 10 to 18 is being hosted by the US, at Guam island, one of its military bases in the western-part of the Pacific Ocean.

Indian Navy warship INS Sahyadri has reached Guam, the Indian Navy had said on Sunday. The drills kick off with a harbour phase that would feature operational planning and discussions, alignment on communication protocols, familiarisation visits between participating nations and sports fixtures.

Following the harbour phase, all participating units will proceed for a sea phase — during which ships and aircraft will take part in naval drills, focusing on joint fleet operations, anti-submarine warfare, gun firing and flying operations.

The exercise gains importance as all the four-countries operate the same maritime surveillance planes, which are also capable of hunting submarines. Thee sensors and radars on these planes can generate a common ‘picture’ at sea. The four also have other common platforms in their arsenal, which can enable seamless communication with each other.

About the Naval drill

• The ‘Malabar’ exercise, which began in 1992 as a bilateral naval drill between the United States and Indian Navy, has evolved into a key multilateral event aimed at enhancing interoperability to address shared maritime challenges in the Indian Ocean and the Indo-Pacific region.
• It is often dubbed by Beijing as ‘anti-China’, largely due to the fact that the four partners in ‘Malabar’ are also partners in the Quad. This year, the exercise would also be the first military engagement for India with the US after the two sides signed a new ‘Framework for the US-India Major Defence Partnership’ last month.