E-Paper
QUAD navies to exercise off Japan in Pacific in November
Malabar 2022 will have a strong anti-submarine, rapid deployment, surveillance and force projection element and will be led by US Navy’s aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan.
With the QUAD Foreign Ministers reaffirming their commitment to oppose any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo in the Indo-Pacific, the powerful navies of this ever-strengthening grouping of democratic nations will be holding Malabar exercises off the coast of Yokosuka in Japan from November 8 to 18 this year. The US Navy has a base in Yokosuka and is currently home port to Carrier Strike Group 5 led by USS Ronald Reagan.
It is understood that Indian Navy will be sending a Shivalik class stealth frigate and a Kamorta class anti-submarine warfare stealth corvette along with a Boeing P8I anti-submarine warfare aircraft and a force component for the annual major exercises among QUAD partners. The QUAD navies are expected to hold advanced exercises with live firing and war gaming manoeuvres during this exercise period.
The second phase of Malabar 2021 was held in the Bay of Bengal on October 12-15 with US Navy represented by aircraft carrier Carl Vinson along with two destroyers. The Indian Navy was represented by a destroyer, a frigate, and a submarine. The Japanese and Australian Navy had sent two warships each for these exercises.
Given the aggressive posture of PLA Navy in the Indo-Pacific with frequent appearance of Chinese submarines in the Indian Ocean, the QUAD maritime exercises have included coordinated anti-submarine operation drills and special forces operations in the past.
The basic purpose of the Malabar, which began as a bilateral India-US exercise way back in 1992, is for QUAD navies to understand each other operationally as they are bound with the common objective of securing sea lanes of communication and freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific particularly South China Sea.
The decision to add Australian Navy was taken in 2020 after Chinese belligerence both in East Ladakh and in Taiwan. Last time the Australian Navy participated in Malabar before 2020 was in 2007, which also included a Singapore contingent.
However, the five-member grouping was scaled down as Beijing served a demarche to all the countries stating that the exercises reeked of anti-China mindset. The Malabar was reconvened in 2017 as a trilateral with Japan and US and in 2020, the QUAD countries came forward and joined hands due to wolf warrior Chinese actions in South China Sea and Indian Ocean.
While the US Navy was forwardly deployed in Philippines Sea throughout the Chinese live fire drills during House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last month, the Indian Navy has been cheesed with China for increasing frequency of PLA ballistic missile and satellite tracking ships in the Indian Ocean and with Sri Lanka for allowing Beijing’s strategic assets to dock at Hambantota Port.
