In a strong strategic signal to China amidst the military confrontation in eastern Ladakh, a US carrier strike group led by aircraft carrier USS Nimitz on Monday conducted an exercise with Indian warships near the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago. The PASSEX (passing exercise) between the two navies, which have built “interoperability” through a series of “Malabar” and other exercises, comes after the mammoth nuclear-powered USS Nimitz and her accompanying warships entered the Indian Ocean by crossing the Malacca Strait on Saturday.