Exercise Malabar 2018: India, US, Japan to Show Naval Strength in Guam in June

Latestly Apr 26, 2018

Malabar Exercise 2018 to be held in Guam in June 

New Delhi, April 26: The Indo-US-Japan Malabar exercise will be held in Guam in June. The Indian Navy will send three ships to the exercise which is taking place in the western Pacific region. Indigenous stealth frigate INS Sahyadri, anti-submarine stealth corvette INS Kamotra and a fleet tanker will be participating in the exercise. The main attraction of the exercise would be the Nimitz-class super-carrier-USS Ronald Regan.

Guam is being prepared to be the western most military training range for the US. The US forces are present in the region in large numbers. Australia would not be part of Malabar 2018, reported Deccan Herald, citing sources. Australia had approached India many times to be part of the exercise. It expected at least a status of an ‘Observer’ but India is reluctant to allow Australia’s participation, the move which is appreciated by China. Only in 2007, Australia participated in the exercise.

Japan is the third permanent member of the tri-nation exercise. After participation in earlier Malabar exercises, Japan became the permanent member in 2015. Last year The Malabar exercise took place in the Bay of Bengal. The participant navies practised carrier group strike operations, surface and anti-submarine warfare operations, medical operations and Special Forces operations.

The annual Malabar exercise started in 1992 between Indian and US navies. Till 1998 only three Malabar exercises were conducted, but after the Pokhran nuclear test, The US put sanctions on India. The exercise was later resumed in 2002.

Courtesy: Latestly