10-03-2021 | 15:19 PM
Indian And Indonesian Navies Conducted PASSEX Exercise
Context
On February 18, 2021, the Indian and the Indonesian navies held the bilateral military exercise PASSEX (Passage Exercise) in the Arabian sea. This military exercise was organised in order to enhance the operational interoperability and the overall cooperation.
Key Highlights
Indian Navy Ship INS Talwar and Indonesian Navy’s multirole Corvette KRI Bung Tomo took part in the exercise.
Maritime cooperation between India and Indonesia has been increasing rapidly in the last few years.
PASSEXs are regularly conducted by Indian navy with friendly foreign navies.
Notwithstanding the coronavirus pandemic, the Indian Navy participated in maritime exercises in the last few months with a number of countries, including Japan, Russia, Australia and the US.
In November 2020, India hosted the Malabar exercise, in which the navies of the US, Japan and Australia participated. India invited Australia for the exercise, making it a drill by all the Quad member nations.
Malabar exercise is a trilateral naval exercise between the United States, Japan and India.
This drill was started in 1992 as a bilateral exercise involving India and the United States.
In 2015, Japan was made a permanent partner in the exercise.
The exercise is often joined by the non-permanent members like Singapore and Australia.
The exercise held a number of activities like fighter combat operations from aircraft carriers, anti-submarine warfare, amphibious operations, diving salvage operations, counter-piracy operations etc.
