Indian Navy to join big Quad exercise in Guam this week

New Delhi: The navies of the four “Quad” nations -- India, the United States, Japan and Australia -- will be conducting the high-profile Malabar exercises in the US Pacific territory of Guam from Thursday, in a clear message to China. The Malabar-21 exercises will be conducted at sea from August 26 to 29. Last year India had invited the Royal Australian Navy to take part in the Malabar exercises. This year once again Australia will participate in the Malabar exercises.

India, the US, Japan and Australia are part of the “Quad" alliance, which Beijing considers as an anti-China grouping.

Malabar-21 will witness high-tempo exercises conducted between naval destroyers, frigates, corvettes, submarines, helicopters and long-range maritime patrol aircraft. Complex surface, sub-surface and air operations, including live weapon firing drills, anti-surface, anti-air and anti-submarine warfare drills, joint manoeuvres and tactical exercises will be conducted during the exercise.

Two Indian naval vessels – INS Shivalik and INS Kadmatt -- arrived in Guam on Saturday. The two ships are scheduled to participate in the annual Malabar-21 exercise this year.

The Malabar series of maritime exercises began in 1992 as a bilateral Indian-US naval exercise and has grown in stature over the years to include four prominent navies in the Pacific and Indian Ocean Region. The exercise will provide an opportunity for common minded navies to enhance inter-operability, gain from best practices and develop a common understanding of procedures for maritime security operations.

The participating Indian ships, Shivalik and Kadmatt, are the latest indigenously designed and built, multi-role Guided Missile Stealth Frigate and Anti-Submarine Corvette respectively and form part of the Indian Navy’s Eastern Fleet based at Visakhapatnam, the headquarters of the Eastern Naval Command. INS Shivalik is commanded by Capt. Kapil Mehta while INS Kadmatt is commanded by Commander R.K. Maharana. The two ships are equipped with a versatile array of weapons and sensors, can carry multi-role helicopters and represent the growth of India’s warship building capabilities.