Defence
Malabar 2023: Indian Navy Ships Kolkata And Shivalik Head To Australia To Take Part In Joint QUAD Nation Drills
INS Kolkata at Malabar 2020 (Via Wikipedia)
The Indian Navy destroyer — INS Kolkata, and frigate — INS Shivalik, alongwith the Boeing's P-8I Poseiden maritime patrol aircraft head towards Sydney in Australia to take part in Malabar joint exercises.
The Malabar exercise are joint drills of the QUAD nations comprising India, US, Japan and Australia, where the navies engage in complex naval manoeuvres to increase jointness and co-operation between the four nations.
The Malabar 2023, will commence from 11 August and continue till 22 August.
This comes after increasing Chinese belligerence in the Indo-pacific and particularly against nations in the South China Sea (SCS), which claims the entire SCS as Chinese territory.
The Malabar exercise aims to deepen ties between the QUAD navies, i.e, India, US, Japan, and Australia.
With a series of dynamic drills and simulated scenarios, the QUAD naval forces will undertake a wide range of activities, including anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare, air defense, and amphibious operations.
According to a report by Hindustan Times, the Malabar Exercise will have both, a sea and a harbor phase.
Furthermore, India will also gift a corvette INS Kirpan (India's first gift of an active duty warship to any friendly navy), to Vietnam to strengthen maritime its capabilities against China.
India is also working to acquire, 31 MQ-9B Sea and Sky Guardians UAVs from the United States to increase its multi-domain awareness.
15 of the total 31 MQ-9B will be given to the Indian Navy which will in-conjunction with Boeing's P-8I Poseiden maritime patrol aircrafts (MPA) will greatly increase Indian Navy's capability to monitor Chinese movements in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
The standoff between Indian and Chinese armies that started after clash at Galwan in 2020, along the entire Line of Actual Control (LAC), also doesn't looks to end anytime soon.
The clashes resulted in the deaths of twenty Indian Army soldiers from the Bihar regiment and reportedly dozens of People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers.
Talks between the Indian Foreign and Defence Ministers, along with 18 rounds of military commanders' talks, have not yet been able to resolve the standoff.
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