Malabar war games: INS Vikramaditya. (Source: Wikimedia Commons) Malabar war games: INS Vikramaditya. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Amid heightened border tensions between Beijing and New Delhi near the Sikkim-Bhutan tri-junction, India, Japan and the US will showcase their naval might with their largest warships in the Malabar war games scheduled for July 10 in the Indian Ocean. The Malabar war games are strategically significant for India as Beijing very recently deployed one of their submarines in the Indian Ocean region, with the Indian Navy picking up information of an ‘unusual surge’ in the number of Chinese vessels entering the region. The Indian Navy is being assisted by Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) very own GSAT-7 satellite, which is also called Rukmini. Launched in September 29, 2013, Rukmini is Indian Navy’s military communication satellite that aids in providing information in the high seas and strengthens India’s maritime security.

The Malabar tri-lateral exercise will witness around 15 warships, two submarines, numerous fighter planes, helicopters and surveillance aircraft participating in this much-awaited exercise. The Malabar war games stands in consonance with New Delhi’s ‘Act East Policy’ and aims to foster deeper relations with US and Japan. Aside from INS Vikramaditya, India’s largest warship and the third aircraft carrier inducted into the Navy, USS Nimitz, Japan’s largest helicopter carrier JS Izumo, and many other warships, submarines would take part in the games. Also Read: How the Navy names its ships, subs

Besides at-sea training off India’s eastern coast in the Bay of Bengal, the Malabar war games will also feature the three countries sharing their military expertise on land as well, with special focus on Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW). Also Read: Chinese media says India will suffer ‘greater losses’ than 1962 if it ‘incites’ border tensions

The Malabar war games come in the backdrop of the recent standoff between Indian and Chinese troops in Doklam area in Sikkim, with the Chinese media stepping up its attack on New Delhi through its editorials asking Indian troops to move out of the area ‘with dignity or be kicked out’.

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