The Indian Navy (IN), United States Navy (USN), Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF), and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) on Tuesday held a series of complex manoeuvres in the Bay of Bengal, kick-starting the four-day-long first phase of the Malabar naval exercise.
Indian Navy ships Ranvijay, Shivalik, Shakti, Sukanya, and submarine Sindhuraj participated in the naval exercise along with US Navy ship John S McCain, Australian Navy’s long-range frigate HMAS Ballarat, and Japan Maritime Self Defence Force’s JS Onami.
The mega exercise is taking place at a time India and China are locked in a nearly six-month-long bitter border standoff in eastern Ladakh.
Japan, Australia and the US — the three other participants of the exercise — too are having fractious ties with China in the last few months over a range of contentious issues.
“Several complex military drills were conducted on the first day of the exercise in the Bay of Bengal,” news agency PTI quoted a military official as saying.
