Santa Rita (Guam) : Naval ships, aircraft and personnel from India, Japan and the US have begun exercise Malabar 2018 during which they will practice surface and anti-submarine warfare operations and combined carrier strike group operations off the coast of Guam island in the western Pacific.
The June 7-16 wargame — first after the US renamed its Hawaii-based Pacific command as the Indo-Pacific Command — is being held amid incrased Chinese activities of building artificial islands in the South China Sea and sending submarines into the Indian Ocean, reports IANS.
“The Malabar 2018 exercise represents the US commitment to working with regional powers in the Indian and Pacific Oceans,” US Secretary of Defense James Mattis said when he announced the new name and welcomed Admiral Phil Davidson in his new role taking the charge of the combat command. Malabar will be done in two phases: ashore and at-sea training.
The harbour phrase will occur at Naval Base Guam from June 7 to 10 and the sea phase from June 11 to 16 in the Philippine Sea.
While ashore in Guam, training will include subject matter expert and professional exchanges on carrier strike group operations, maritime patrol and reconnaissance operations, surface and anti-submarine warfare, medical operations, damage control, helicopter operations and visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) operations, according to a US Navy statement.
The at-sea part will see military-to-military coordination and capacity to plan and execute tactical operations in a multinational environment.
The Malabar exercise began in 1992 as a joint Indo-US naval drill. But it was suspended from 1998 to 2002 after India conducted nuclear weapons tests in 1998. This year marks the 22nd edition of the exercise which has now become an annual feature in the deep military ties between the US and India.
The US Navy has fielded aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), the guided-missile cruisers USS Antietam (CG 54) and USS Chancellorsville (CG 62), the guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold (DDG 65) and a P-8A Poseidon aircraft.