Malabar Exercise

  • Phase 1 of the Malabar Naval Exercise kicked off on 03 November, off the coast near Visakhapatnam.
  • The second phase will be in the Arabian Sea in mid-November. 
  • India, the United States, Japan and Australia conducted the exercise in the Bay of Bengal
  • This was Malabar’s 24th edition.
  • This year’s Malabar Exercise was planned on a “non-contact-at sea” format keeping Covid-19 protocols in mind.
MALABAR AND ITS HISTORY
  • Malabar is a multilateral naval exercise that includes simulated war games and combat manoeuvres. 
  • It is an annual exercise.
  • It was started in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between the Indian and US navies. 
  • The Americans suspended exercises in 1998, after India tested nuclear weapons.
  • However, the United States renewed military contacts in 2002, following the September 11 attacks when India joined President George W Bush's campaign against international terrorism.
2007 AND POST-2007 EVENTS
  • Malabar 2007 was the ninth Malabar exercise and was the first one to be held outside the Indian Ocean.
  • It was held off Okinawa island of Japan in the Western Pacific.
  • Australian navy participated for the first time in 2007. 
  • In 2007, there were two Malabar Exercises. 
  • The second phase was held in September 2007, off Visakhapatnam, with the Indian, Japanese, US, Australian and Singapore navies.
  • The following year, Australia stopped participating. 
  • Japan became a regular participant only in 2015, making it a trilateral annual exercise since then.
  • Last year, the exercise was held in early September off the coast of Japan.

AUSTRALIA IN MALABAR
  • The participation of Australia is being seen as a significant development 
  • It is opined that the participation of four large navies from the Indo-Pacific region will send a message to China. 
  • It has also been mentioned that earlier, it was the possibility of riling up China that had prevented India from expanding the Malabar Exercise, and from Australia joining it.
COUNTERPARTS AND WHY MALABAR IS IMPORTANT
  • The Indian Navy has conducted a number of Passage Exercises (PASSEX) with navies from Japan, Australia and the US. 
  • But those were basic exercises to increase operability between the navies, while Malabar involves simulated war games. 
  • In late September, the Indian Navy conducted PASSEX with the Royal Australian Navy.
  • India conducted a PASSEX with the US carrier strike group led by one of the largest warships in the world, USS Nimitz. 

SOURCES; IE, HT

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