Malabar 2017: India kicks off naval exercise with US, Japan

[anant_s]

Malabar 2017: India kicks off naval exercise with US, Japan
CHENNAI: Amidst concern raised by China, navies of India, US and the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force on Monday began Malabar naval exercise 2017, aimed at achieving deeper military ties between the three nations.

It is the 21st edition of the Malabar exercise.

US and Japanese ships at Chennai Port to take part in Malabar 2017 (TOI photo by L R Skankar)

Highlights

• India today kicked off Malabar 2017 exercise with US and Japan.
• The exercise comes amid India-China stand-off in Sikkim sector.
• The Malabar exercise will go on till July 17.

HCS Bisht, flag officer commanding-in-chief, Eastern Naval Command, declared the exercise open. He said, "The exercise indicated a joint attempt to address common challenges and shared threat."

However, he refused to commit that choice of ships and the venue of exercise had anything to do with presence of Chinese ships or threat in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean region.

Rear Admiral William D Byrne, Commander, US Strike Group 11, said the only strategic message that was being sent to all navies is that "we are better together and eliminate possibilities of miscalculations." He was responding to repeated questions of how China would view this joint exercise.

Sixteen ships, 95 aircraft and two submarines take part in the exercise that will go on till July 17.

The Malabar exercise is taking place amid the military stand-off between armies of India and China in the Sikkim section and Beijing ramping up its naval patrol in the Indian Ocean region.

China has stepped up its activities in the Indian Ocean in recent years, building ports in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The maritime exercises come weeks after US President Donald Trump declared that ties between Washington and New Delhi had "never been stronger" as he held his first talks with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Beijing already claims large swathes of the resource-rich South China Sea and East China Sea, putting it in competition with Japan and other countries in the region.

It is the fourth consecutive year Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force (MSDF) has taken part in the Malabar Exercise, conducted annually by the US and India in the Bay of Bengal since 1992.

In a statement, the US said the exercises had "grown in scope and complexity over the years to address the variety of shared threats to maritime security in the Indo-Asia Pacific".

(With inputs from agencies)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ss-common-challenges/articleshow/59524855.cms

Taking part in the trilateral naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal would be US Ship Nimitz (CVN68), guided missile cruise USS Princeton (CG59), guided missile destroyers USS Howard (DDG83), USS Shoup (DDG86) and USS Kidd (DDG100), a Poseidon P-8A aircraft as well as a Los Angeles fast-attack submarine. Besides, Japan Maritime Self Defence Force ships JS Izumo (DDH 183), JS Sazanami (DD1 13) along with Indian Naval Ship Jalashwa and INS Vikramaditya would participate in the joint Naval exercise

The 21st edition of the exercise, conducted ashore and at-sea, would include professional exchanges on carrier strike group operations, maritime patrol and reconnaissance operations, surface and anti-submarine warfare.

Vice Admiral Joseph P Aucoin Commander meets Admiral Sunil Lanba as Malabar 2017 kicks off. (Source: twitter/indian navy)

Japanese helicopter ‘destroyer’ JS Izumo and destroyer JS Sazanami during drills. (Source: twitter/indian navy)

 

[Kuru]

This is going to be amazing. Especially after what's happening in Bhutan.

 

[assassin123]

US Navy P8A with Indian Navy P8A at INS arakonam

 

[egodoc222]

Should include Australia,south Korea and Vietnam next year!

 

[assassin123]

 

[Keel]

Malabar 2017: India-US-Japan naval exercise not aimed at stoking China’s anxieties

China is seeking to bridge the naval gap with relation to the US with a heightened sense of urgency, and this is reflected in its reaction to the Malabar naval exercise

OPINION Updated: Jul 11, 2017 10:44 IST

• India, US, Japan to begin Malabar drills: All you need to about the naval exercise in Indian Ocean

• 
  
  From submarines to warships: How Chinese navy is expanding its footprint in Indian Ocean

However this display of multilateral naval cooperation off Okinawa heightened China’s anxiety index and more problems were created wherein Beijing issued demarches to the nations concerned. Both India and the US sought to assuage Chinese concerns and the Malabar exercise was cut short.

In January 2015, India and the US upgraded Malabar formally to include Japan.

The geopolitical subtext of the Malabar exercise is complex and multi-layered. At one level, it denotes the growing level of interoperability between the navies of the US and India, and this is distinctive for India has steadfastly refrained from joining any formal military alliance.

The Indian Navy – despite its diminutive Cinderella status (in relation to the other two services) came onto the global radar in 1988 when its ships were the first to respond to an attempted coup in the Maldives. Anecdotal recall has it that then US President Ronald Reagan, when apprised of this development was supposed to have asked: “India has such a capable navy?” The subsequent ‘Cactus’ mop up by the Indian Army and Air Force drew accolades globally.

It took the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union for India to review and reset its relationship with the US. An astute Rao encouraged a hesitant bureaucracy that had been nurtured in an anti-American ecosystem to engage with Washington.

The naval component of the Kicklighter proposals, which suggested comprehensive military-to-military cooperation became the Malabar joint exercises and signalled an intent on both sides to sustain a professional level of interaction despite their asymmetry in capability.


One could make a case that the Malabar exercise represented the gradual security outlook liberalisation of the Indian octopus and that Rao in an unobtrusive manner provided the trigger pulse not just for economic liberalisation, but also for a strategic re-orientation of the insular Indian world view.

The resilience of the Malabar exercise is reflected in the fact that though India-US relations plummeted as far south as is possible after the May 1998 nuclear tests, the two sides picked up the naval thread after 9/11 and India provided escorts for US ships in the Indian Ocean at the time.

The deeper geopolitical salience of the exercise is about joint stewardship of the maritime domain – the traditional global commons. It is instructive to note that the concept of a ‘global common’ has now been extended to include the cyber and space domains and in many ways the Malabar exercise is a symbol of the depth of such collective endeavour.

The US with its qualitative technological profile is the lead global navy – and there is no other nation in the next 10 places. China is seeking to bridge the naval gap with relation to the US with a heightened sense of urgency and anxiety, and this is often reflected in its reaction to the Malabar exercise. Hence its irate response in 2007 and subsequently signals have been conveyed by China to both Australia and Singapore to desist from donning the Malabar hat.

The current stand-off in the Dokalam plateau is one strand of the troubled India-China relationship. But for now it is evident that Delhi is not seeking to play the Malabar card and stoke China’s imagined anxieties about a democratic naval/maritime coalition that will bring alive the Malacca dilemma first outlined by then Chinese President Hu Jintao in 2003.

Malabar 2017 will have three carriers participating – the US Navy’s Nimitz (the world’s largest carrier), the INS Vikramaditya, and a Japanese helo-carrier and a nuclear submarine. While interoperability is at the core of such exercises, Malabar will burnish India’s credibility in the maritime domain and punctuate the Indian Ocean region in a manner that prioritises collective effort to secure the first of the three global commons.

Whether this can be extended to other maritime domains remains to be seen.

C Uday Bhaskar is director, Society for Policy Studies, New Delhi

The views expressed are personal

http://www.hindustantimes.com/opini...s-anxieties/story-SIBY1wI4hJHOqiss8NI3MJ.html

 

[assassin123]

 

[帅的一匹]

A nice show

 

[kingfeiq]

The axis of evil(US,JAPAN,INDIA) is undergoing military exercises.they are the greatest danger to world peace.
especially india,instead of helping the poor and developing the economy, money is buying weapons.
what dose india want?dominate asia and then the world.

 

[anant_s]

what dose india want?

If you talking about Indian Navy, the strategic goal we are pursuing is keeping the maritime trade route of Malacca straits from Gulf of Aden and Suez canal safe, more so keeping in mind piracy on eastern African coast and assistance in search and rescue. If this route remains free, it is going to help all nations in region, China included.

 

[kingfeiq]

If you talking about Indian Navy, the strategic goal we are pursuing is keeping the maritime trade route of Malacca straits from Gulf of Aden and Suez canal safe, more so keeping in mind piracy on eastern African coast and assistance in search and rescue. If this route remains free, it is going to help all nations in region, China included.

That sounds like a good reason.but do you think its necessary to use aircraft carriers to keep safe of the route?
So don't look for good reasons,its all falsehood.

 

[dray]

what dose india want?dominate asia and then the world.

Nope, we just want to prevent an evil hegemonic power from dominating Asia and then the world. And we are determined about it.

 

[anant_s]

but do you think its necessary to use aircraft carriers to keep safe of the route?

Not necessarily.
Aircraft carriers are definitely mightiest tools for power projection and if you excuse the pun, they are in every sense Showboats.
But do remember that even if India gets 3 ACs by 2030, the current doctrine is for placing one each on Eastern and Western coast of India and use A&N islands as static asset for launch of Long range Surveillance Aircrafts such as P8I and soon to be inducted MRMR and GA Guardian Drones. I don't see any aggressive posturing by India in IOR region although patrolling will continue and range will increase as IN inducts bigger ships.
On the question of Indo Chinese relations in the region, the honest forecast is that while they will remain tensed, there is little or no scope of any foreseeable confrontation.

 

[scorpionx]

The axis of evil(US,JAPAN,INDIA) is undergoing military exercises.they are the greatest danger to world peace.
especially india,instead of helping the poor and developing the economy, money is buying weapons.
what dose india want?dominate asia and then the world.

You block our every move in platforms like UNSC, NSG, you want Pakistan to play a counter balancing role against India, from 50's you are fomenting insurgencies in our North East, repeatedly violating the sanctity of LAC. And what do you expect in return? We will let you a free run in Indian Ocean?

 

[kingfeiq]

You block our every move in platforms like UNSC, NSG, you want Pakistan to play a counter balancing role against India, from 50's you are fomenting insurgencies in our North East, repeatedly violating the sanctity of LAC. And what do you expect in return? We will let you a free run in Indian Ocean?

hi,guy,I am glad to have a rational communication with you.
1.Are you simply think only china oppose india to join in UNSC? and are you naively think US will support india to join in UNSC?NO.no one wants to share their rights,especially US who has a clear idea that China will oppose india, so it is support on the surface. this is the strategy of great powers.
2.Do you know the real regional balance tactics?look at china and taiwan.US will not allow taiwan independence or unification to contain China, or as a bargaining chip in future negotiations.sovereignty is the biggest problem, and other problems are easy to solve.so I think there isnt problems difficult to solve between india and pakistan unless you don't want to solve it.
3.Who made the terrorists?look at Taliban and ISIS.you may have different answers because of the media.I never get the message about who made the terrorists from china media,I just extrapolate from the facts. don't be gullible in the media, even in the media of your so-called democracy.
Just as Chinese does not understand India, Indians does not know the real China.