Interoperability to be in focus during maiden ASEAN-India Maritime Exercise in 2023

The first ever ASEAN-India Maritime exercise is scheduled to take place in the first quarter of 2023 where the focus is expected to be on interoperability and exchange of best practices amongst all the navies.

At a special briefing in New Delhi about Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar’s three-day visit to Cambodia beginning starting today (Nov 11, 2023), Saurabh Kumar, Secretary (East) in Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also said that later this month defence ministers of ASEAN-India will hold a meeting.

Expected Agenda

Later this month for the first time there will also be an informal meeting of defence ministers of ASEAN region, India side will be led by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The meeting which is expected to take place around Nov 20, 2022 will be held following the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM Plus) meeting. Issues related to maritime security, defence cooperation & exports, combating terrorism, non-proliferation,   as well as Indo-Pacific will be on the agenda of talks. The ministers are also expected to talk about issues related to cyber security; military medicine; peacekeeping operations; humanitarian mine action (HMA), narcotics as well as human trafficking.

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According to officials, besides these issues the defence ministers of the region are expected to discuss regional and global issues including the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, tensions in the Korean peninsula, the South China Sea  

ASEAN Countries

Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.

Background

Back in 2016, India had hosted the first multilateral field training exercise (FTX), called `Force 18’ with regional countries. This was the first multinational drill under the framework of the ADMM Plus which took place in India and the focus was on learning best practices as well as regional peace and security.

Financial Express Online had reported in 2018, that as part of the increasing military-to-military cooperation with ASEAN region, India was instituting a series of regional and multilateral naval drills.  

In fact in 2018, the first ever India-Indonesia naval exercise was conducted in Java Sea and this was followed by a first ever trilateral exercise with Thailand and Singapore. At the Shangri-La dialogue in Singapore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his keynote address had announced this then.

The bilateral naval drill with the Indonesian Navy was in addition to the Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) that the two sides conducted.

In the Indo-Pacific region, India and Singapore already have an agreement for the mutual logistics pact which was signed a few years ago and help’s in the Indian Navy’s operational turnaround.

Also Read: Ex Malabar 2022: Focus on enhancing interoperability in Indo-Pacific region

Bilateral exercises

The Indian Armed Forces are already conducting exercises with the countries from the region at bilateral level. In fact, the Indian Army is all set to take part in ‘Harimau Shakti’ and ‘Garud Shakti’ exercises which will take place in Malaysia and Indonesia respectively.

Indian Army and Singapore Army will take part in ‘Agni Warrior’ exercise in Deolali, Maharashtra later this month.