First ever India-Australia bilateral maritime exercise begins in southern India

Reuters: The inaugural bilateral maritime exercise between India and Australia, AUSINDEX 15, commenced on Saturday (12 September), with an opening ceremony held in India’s southern Visakhapatnam port.

The week-long drill was inaugurated by Flag Officer (Commanding) of the Eastern Fleet, Rear Admiral Ajendra Bahadur Singh, and Head of Navy Capability for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Rear Admiral Jonathan Mead, onboard the INS Shivalik.

The maritime exercises are being held in the Bay of Bengal, off India’s eastern coast in two phases. The first phase, harbour phase, held between 11 and 15 September, encompass briefings and practical demonstrations along with professional interactions.

The sea phase will be held from 16 to 19 September and will include fleet manoeuvres, gun firings as well as coordinated anti-submarine exercises. The drill will see the participation of three Australian navy ships, Royal Australian Navy (RAN) ships HMAS Sirius (Fleet tanker), HMAS Arunta (Anzac class frigate), and HMAS Sheean (Collins class submarine) take part in the drill.

The Indian side will be represented by three navy ships – Shivalik, Ranvijayi and Shakti – along with P-8I Maritime Patrol Aircraft which will operate from southern Chennai city. The Australian side will have the participation of P3C Orion.

Singh said the bilateral exercise is aimed at ensuring peace and security in the region.

“Despite being the first bilateral exercise between the two navies, our aim is to strengthen the professional interaction both in harbour and at sea and both our navies aim to further the goals of peace and security in the region and build a lasting partnership towards ensuring that our two navies and the nations maintain and further our shared maritime interests,” said Singh.

While calling India ‘a key security partner’, Mead called the exercise a ‘watershed moment’ in the navy co-operation between the two nations.

“It will allow us to enhance our technical mastery while operating at sea. It will allow us to develop tactics, training and procedures in areas such as anti-submarine warfare, aviation operations, SEMAR ship and navigation and it will facilitate us in our ability to operate together for such issues and scenarios such as maritime resistance and disaster relief operations,” he said.

The exercise will be a biennial event and will also focus on undertaking combined operations on humanitarian causes and disaster situations.

The two countries had envisaged defence cooperation in the framework for security cooperation announced by the Australian and Indian prime ministers in 2014.

India is also set to take part in joint naval exercises with Japan and the United States in October, the first such event in eight years.