Indian Navy Exercises with French and Royal Navies : Aug 3, 2009

The Indian Navy's Task Force's deployed to Europe from May 09 returned to home waters after a two month deployment westwards. The task force sailing under the command of the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet RAdm Surinder Pal Singh Cheema, comprised the destroyer INS Delhi, the frigates INS Brahmaputra and Beas, and the replenishment ship INS Aditya. The task force returned after successfully honing their skills of joint operations with the Royal Navy and the French Navy. After seven years of bilateral exercise this was for the first time VARUNA (Indo French Naval Exercises) was held outside Indian waters, off the coasts of Brittany. On the French side assets placed under CECLANT's command (the Admiral Commanding Atlantic Ocean Zone), notably the destroyer Primauguet with a helicopter, the frigate Lieutenant de Vaisseau Le Hanaff the nuclear powered attack submarine Emeraude alongwith several French aircraft, including maritime patrol aircraft and navy's fighters, also took part in the exercise. India and France both desire to strengthen their naval cooperation which has already proven to be firm and is not restricted to VARUNA series alone, as is evident from ongoing activities in the Indian Ocean, where navies of both sides are coordinating their efforts towards the suppression of piracy off Somali.

In the same voyage the Indian Task group also progressed Exercise KONKAN, an annual exercise between Indian and Royal Navies, conducted with the aim of building maritime inter-operability and mutual understanding. After four such exercises in Indian waters. KONKAN-09 is the first to be conducted in UK waters.

UK participants, commanded by Commodore Simon Ancona, include the frigates HMS Westminster and HMS Lancaster, the nuclear powered submarine HMS Trafalgar, the auxiliaries RFA Mounts Bay and RFA Fort Rosalie, RAF aircraft Nimrod, Hawks and Merlins.

Crew were exchanged with both the navies. Wherein IN crew embarked on RN/FN ships and vice versa.

SAC Area of Responsibility increases : Feb 20, 2009

In an indication of growing importance of Southern Air Command, the Maritime Air Operations (MAO) Headquarters based in Mumbai will be placed under it. The new arrangements will come into effect from April 1, 2009. This was announced by Air Marshal S Radhakrishnan, AOC-in-C of Southern Air Command (SAC) here today. Currently the MAO Hqs in Mumbai is under the control of Gandhinagar based South-Western Air Command of IAF. Thus, air support for maritime activities will now be controlled by SAC.

While interacting with media during the ongoing IAF Exercise 'DAKSHIN PRAHAR', Air Marshal Radhakrishnan said an Aerostat Radar with the capability of picking up targets at lower ranges will be established in two years.

IAF is conducting Exercise DAKSHIN PRAHAR to validate the concept of flexi use of air space from 18^th February and will end on 25^th February 2009. During the exercise, IAF and Airport Authority of India (AAI) officials are constantly in touch on daily basis and the information is being shared regarding flight plans so that civil air traffic is not affected, Air Marshal Radhakrishnan said. On each day of the exercise, a certain target is fixed in carefully crafted corridor in coordination with AAI and modern tactics of using combat air power is being practiced.

State of the art fighter aircraft such as Sukhoi 30 MKI, Mirage 2000 and upgraded versions of maritime Jaguar are taking part in the exercise. The maritime Jaguars can carry special weapons required for maritime operations. Aircraft are also being operated from Bangalore, Pune and Goa, in addition to Thiruvananthapuram, he said. All the combat aircraft are capable of air-to-air refueling by the IL- 78s which are strategically positioned to increase the reach of fighters to go around the peninsula without refueling. AN-32s, Avro and Mi-8 are providing vital transport support and perform communication duties during the exercise.

EXERCISE TROPEX-2009

Photo Captions

Photo- 01 BMP's of the Indian Army roll out from an Indian Navy ship and travel through the sea for an amphibious assault during Exercise Tropex held at Madhavpur beach, Gujarat on 09 Feb o9.

Photo- 02 Hundreds of Infantry soldiers rushing towards simulated enemy targets at Madhavpur beach, Gujarat during Exercise Tropex-09, a joint services exercise held on 09 Feb o9 by the Army, Navy and the Airforce.

Photo- 03 A T-72 Tank rolling out of a Landing Craft Mechanised (LCM) on the shores of Madhavpur beach during Exercise Tropex held on 09 Feb 09.

The Indian Army, Navy and the Air Force today jointly conducted the largest ever Amphibious Exercise codenamed "EXERCISE TROPEX-2009" at Madhavpur beach, Gujarat. The amphibious landing, the most complex of all military manoeuvres involving coordination and synergy from conceptualization to planning and final execution, was ably demonstrated on the shores of Madhavpur. The element of Coast Guard was also a part of this short, swift and intense conflict.

The pre-assault operations of planning, mobilization and embarkation having been achieved at Karwar, the Amphibious Task Force sailed from Karwar on February 05, 2009 and landed on the shores of Madhavpur today using the newly inducted Landing Platform Dock (LPD) INS Jalashwa, several Landing Ship Tank Large {LST(L)}, fleet ships with their integral helicopters, shore-based aircraft and submarines from the Indian Navy and Hovercraft of the Coast Guard. This is the first time the Joint Doctrine on Amphibious Warfare of the Indian Armed Forces which was formulated last year was put into practice with its full scope. As a precursor to the present operation, a tri-service landing operation, 'TRIVENI' was conducted at Lakshadweep Islands in early January this year.

Air support is critical to any amphibious operations since mortars and artilliary are not available abinitio on landing. HQ Southern Western Air Command deployed its Jaguars which carry a large array of weapons, flying at 200 feet pulled up and carried out rocket attacks with pin-point accuracy on simulated enemy targets. MiG 29 aircraft with its state of the art radar and ultra modern missiles carried out Combat Air Patrol over Madhopur to out-manoeuvre incoming enemy aircraft.

Tanks, Armoured Personnel Carriers and Infantry troops of 91 Infantry Brigade of the Sudarshan Chakra Corps were carried in both stand-off and hard beaching modes. Use of deployment of troops exploiting third dimension, i.e. airborne and heliborne formed an integral part of the exercise. AN-32 aircraft paradropped Para troopers from the skies followed by slithering operations by MI-8 helicopters to deploy troops at the assault area. Troops in waves emerged from the sea and carried out effective assaults on the beach of Madhavpur. The defensive layout depicting the enemy were from the Golden Katar Division of the Indian Army.

The exercise exhibited high level of coordination and synergy between the Armed Forces to carry out such swift and intense conflict during military operations. It also provided tremendous training value through the testing of human and material endurance, execution of organizational and logistics plans and finally delivering the punch in a mock battle.

The exercise was witnessed by Air Marshal KD Singh, AOC in C, South Western Air Command, Vice Admiral JS Bedi, FOC in C, Western Naval Command and Lieutenant General Pradeep Khanna, GOC in C, Southern Command and other senior military officers from the three services.

AMPHIBIOUS LANDING EXERCISE OFF GUJRAT COAST: 08 Feb 08 : exercise 'TROPEX

The Indian Navy, Army, Air Force along with the Indian Coast Guard will be conducting the largest ever amphibious exercise on the West Coast on the 9^th February. The exercise is part of the annual major exercise 'TROPEX' that the Indian Navy conducts every year.

Newly inducted Landing Platform Dock (LPD) INS Jalashwa, several Landing Ship Tank Large {LST(L)}, fleet ships with their integral helicopters, shore-based aircraft and submarines from the Indian Navy; a Brigade group with integral armour, artillery and engineers from the Indian Army; Jaguars, Sukhois, air to air Refueller aircraft and helicopters from the IAF and hovercraft from the Indian Coast Guard will participate. Special Forces have also been dovetailed into the overall concept of operation.

In modern warfare, an amphibious landing is the most complex of all military manoeuvres involving coordination and synergy from conceptualization to planning and final execution. This is the first time the Joint Doctrine on Amphibious Warfare of the Indian Armed Forces which was unveiled last year will be put into practice with its full scope. As a precursor to the present operation, a tri-service landing operation, 'TRIVENI' was conducted at Lakshadweep Islands in early January this year. The designated forces have trained extensively by day and night. Tanks, Armoured Personnel Carriers and troops have been carried in both stand-off and hard beaching. Extensive use of heli-borne troop movement forms an integral part of the exercise which is meant to provide 'over the horizon' capability to the landing force.

The presently conducted exercise is over and above the Indian Navy's continued anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and its ongoing operations on the western seaboard.

“HAND IN HAND 2008” CULMINATES SUCCESSFULLY : December 12, 2008

CAPTIONS

PHOTO 01 In an informal chat - Lieutanent General Noble Thamburaj, GOC in C Southern Command and Lieutanent General Ma Xiaotian, Deputy Chief of General Staff, People's Liberation Army at the grand stand during the Exercise "Hand in Hand" on 12 Dec (Friday).

PHOTO 02 Commandoes slithering out of an IAF MI-8 helicopter during the final assault of Sino Indian Exercise "Hand in Hand" on 12 Dec (Friday).

PHOTO 03 "Hand in Hand", Lieutanent General Noble Thamburaj, GOC in C Southern Command and Lieutanent General Ma Xiaotian, Deputy Chief of General Staff, People's Liberation Army shaking hands after the closing ceremony of the Counter Terrorism Exercise.

PHOTO 04 Lieutanent General Noble Thamburaj, GOC in C Southern Command and Lieutanent General Ma Xiaotian, Deputy Chief of General Staff, People's Liberation inspecting a combined Guard of Honour marking the end of the Sino Indian Exercise "Hand in Hand" on 12 Dec (Friday).

PHOTO 05 Lieutanent General Ma Xiaotian, Deputy Chief of General Staff, People's Liberation Army bidding goodbye to the contingents after the closing ceremony.

PHOTO 06 Lieutanent General Noble Thamburaj, GOC in C Southern Command presenting certicate of merit to a Chinese soldier during the Closing ceremony of Exercise "Hand in Hand -08".

The first ever Sino-Indian Exercise on Indian soil "Hand in Hand 2008" concluded successfully today at Belgaum, Karnataka. The exercise was aimed at enhancing inter –operability in countering terrorism by sharing and learning from each other.

Speaking at the Closing ceremony, Lieutanent General Noble Thumburaj, GOC IN C Southern Command of Indian Army said "The Exercise has nurtured strong bonds amongst the troops which will further augment bilateral relations between the two nations. Both the armies are part of universal forefront to eradicate anti social malice from the present world scenario through collective operational capabilities. This has been possible through the joint India-China military exercise wherein we have been able to hone out tactical abilities at grass root level".

Expressing similar sentiments Lieutanant General Ma Xiaotian, Deputy Chief of General Staff, People's Liberation Army said that as good neighbours and friends we will take the road to peace and harmony in the region and the world. The General also praised the closed coordination between both the armies and stated that military relations have achieved heartening progress. He added that the joint training was an important symbol of friendship.

Prior to the closing ceremony, a final Counter terrorism operation was carried out by a combined contingent from the Indian and People's Liberation Army. The operation codenamed "Exercise Atank Vinash" was undertaken to capture and neutralize militants from two adjacent villages which were especially created for the exercise. Commandoes slithered down from MI-8 helocopters of the Indian Air Force and quicky surrounded the militant hideouts. Using various tactics they neutralized a number of militants and recovered a large number of arms and ammunition. During the simulated exercise special care was taken that minimum inconvenience was caused to the civilians. The demonstration was highly appreciated by everyone present.