Visakhapatnam: Indo-Russian maritime exercise to begin today
The week-long exercise will have two phases, harbour and sea
Visakhapatnam: The 8th bi- annual joint maritime exercise of India and Russia-Indra- is all set to kick off on Monday off Vizag coast. Russian warships arrived at Vizag harbour on Sunday.
The exercise that begins on Monday will continue till Dec 12. The exercise will be divided in two phases- harbour phase at Visakhapatnam and the sea phase off Visakhapatnam.
The Harbour phase would encompass tabletop exercises and planning conferences ashore, prior to progressing into the sea. The sea phase would include various facets of fleet operations.
Indra is a bilateral maritime exercise between the Indian and Russian navies and epitomises the strategic relationship between the two countries. Initiated in 2003, the exercise has matured over the years with increasing scope, complexity of operations and level of participation.
The aim of this exercise is to increase interoperability between the two navies and develop common understanding of procedures for maritime security operations. The scope of Indra Navy15 includes wide-ranging professional interactions during the harbour phase and a diverse canvas of operational activities at sea across a spectrum of maritime operations.
During Indra Navy15, the Indian Navy will be represented by INS Sahyadri an indigenous frigate, INS Ranvijay, a guided missile destroyer and INS Shakti a Fleet Support Ship.
In addition, a submarine, INS Sindhuvir, the P8I long range maritime patrol aircraft, Dornier short range maritime patrol aircraft, Hawk advanced jet trainer and other integral rotary wing helicopters are scheduled to participate in the bilateral exercise.
The Russian Federation Navy (RFN) will be represented by Deputy Commander of the Pacific Fleet, Vadm Ryabukhin Andrey and ships from the Pacific Fleet will be based at Vladivostok.
RFN ships Varyag, cruiser Bystry, destroyer Alatau, rescue ocean going tug and Boris Butoma, fleet tanker, arrived at Vizag on Monday to participate in Indra Navy-15. Indra will help to strengthen mutual confidence and interoperability, and also enable sharing of best practices between both the navies, said an ENC official to this paper.
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