Visakhapatnam: In pursuance of the ‘Act East’ policy, two Indian Naval ships proceeded on Friday on deployment to east and southeast Asia.
INS Satpura and INS Kadmatt will make ports of call in Singapore, Indo-nesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, South Korea, Japan, Brunei and Russia. The two ships will be deployed for more than three months away from home.
The ships will participate in the International Fleet Review hosted by the Association of South East Asian Countries (Asean) at Thailand. In Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Cambodia and Brunei the ships will commemorate the 25th anniversary of India-Asean dialogue. The ships will also participate in the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) exercise at Malaysia.
In Russia, the ships will participate in the annual India-Russia bilateral exercise Indra This year, for the first time, Ex. Indra will witness the joint participation of Army, Navy and Air Force of both countries.
The Navy said the visit of the ships underscores India’s peaceful presence and harmonious relations with the countries in the region. Besides making port calls, the visit of ships will help in people-to-people interactions, meetings between Indian naval delegations with local dignitaries, and naval exercises to share best practices at sea and enhance interoperability.
INS Satpura and INS Kadmatt are both indigenously built warships. The Satpura, named after the mountain range in Central India, is a multi-role stealth frigate and is commanded by Captain Rahul Shankar. The Kadmatt, named after an island in the Lakshadweep chain, is an anti-submarine corvette and is commanded by Commander Nithin Cariappa.
