India, US & Japan to conduct naval exercise in Bay of Bengal in July

NEWDELHI: India and the US are all set to conduct naval exercise Malabar in the Bay of Bengal in July, the first major joint military drill after Donald Trump took over as President.

Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force will also participate in the drills that are being pegged as bigger and more complex than previous editions.

China has been suspicious of the trilateral engagement and has even lodged protests over Japan’s participation.

An Indian Navy officer said the drills could see the participation of aircraft carriers, nuclear-powered submarines and warships. He said the P-8I and the P-8A ‘submarine hunter’ planes of the Indian and US navies would also be involved. “The exact composition will be known after the final planning conference is over. But the drills will be more complex than any previous engagement,” he added.

In 2015, India and the US renewed a pact to deepen bilateral defence cooperation. The US-India Defence Framework Agreement aims to strengthen military-to-military engagements, improve technical cooperation and bolster strategic partnership till 2025.

India and the US are in the final stages of operationalising the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement that sets down the guidelines for the two militaries to share each other’s assets and facilities for repair, maintenance, supplies and training on an equal-value exchange basis. The US has already submitted its list of logistics points of contacts and is waiting for India to reciprocate. Defence ministry sources said India would share the list with the US soon to operationalise the pact signed last year.