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India conducts naval exercises in Arabian sea

NEW DELHI: The Indian navy has begun a bigger than usual annual exercise in the Arabian sea and will soon conduct exercises with the French navy, officials said on Wednesday.

The Arabian Sea exercise, involving warships and combat aircraft, will run until April and culminate in a joint forces war game in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sushil Kumar told reporters.

It is the first major naval exercise since India launched a ground and air offensive in May last year to oust hundreds of intruders New Delhi said were Pakistani army regulars from peaks on its side of the ceasefire line in disputed Kashmir.

The navy was on high alert during the so-called Kargil conflict, and some media reports said it had helped end the face-off in July by threatening to blockade the key Pakistani port of Karachi.

Kumar said this year's exercise involving about 40 to 45 ships was bigger than the previous two years and included submarines and a large number of planes.

Navy officials said some 40 aircraft, including Sukhoi-30s and Jaguar combat planes, would take part.

Kumar said India would soon acquire a Russian-made Sindhushastra submarine and commission a state-of-the-art frigate being built at Garden Reach in Calcutta.

The admiral said the Indian navy will also carry out exercises with the French navy in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal later this month and in early March. -Reuters