The Annual India – US Bilateral Naval exercise “Malabar” will commence in the Bay of Bengal from tomorrow. Frontline units from the navies of the two countries will take part in the 10 day exercise. The harbour phase of the event to be held for three days begins in Chennai where both navies will participate in seminars on professional techniques. Wide spectrum of exercises, ranging from conventional war fight mission to asymmetric warfare will be part of the sea phase of the exercise. The Sea phase will also include boarding operations, air defence exercises, helicopter cross-deck operations and co-ordinated anti-submarine warfare.
The Indian Navy will be represented by indigenously built guided missile frigate INS Satpur, guided missile destroyers INS Ranvijay and INS Ranvir, missile corvette INS Kulish and fleet tanker INS Shakti. Maritime patrol aircraft Tu-142M and other rotary wing aircraft will also take part in the event.
The US Navy will be represented by three US war ships including aircraft carrier USS Carl Vision, guided missile cruiser USS Bunkerhill, guided missile destroyer USS Halsey , logistics ship UNNS Bridge and a submarine. Malabar' 2012 will be the 16th in the series of structured bilateral India US naval exercise since 1992.