Watch: Second phase of Malabar 2020 exercise kicks off in Arabian Sea
On Tuesday, Indian Navy aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, the American aircraft carrier USS Nimitz along with other Indian, American, Australian and Japanese warships kicked off Malabar-2020 wargames.
Navies of India, the United States of America, Japan and Australia carried out the second phase of Malabar 2020 exercise on Tuesday in the Western Indian Ocean Region . The second phase of Malabar naval drills will be conducted from November 17 to 20.
The naval drills will involve the participation of Indian and American aircraft carriers. One of the major highlights of the four-day drill is participation of Indian Navy’s Vikramaditya carrier battle group and the US Navy’s Nimitz strike group.
On Tuesday, Indian Navy aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, the American aircraft carrier USS Nimitz along with other Indian, American, Australian and Japanese warships carried out Malabar-2020 wargames. A video of the activity was released on Twitter. The USS Nimitz is the world’s largest warship.
Two aircraft carriers and a number of frontline warships, submarines and maritime reconnaissance aircraft were involved in the exercise, PTI reported on Tuesday citing officials,
The first phase of the drills was carried out from November 3-6 in Bay of Bengal, which featured a number of complex drills including anti-air warfare and anti-submarine exercises.
The mega naval exercise is being conducted at a time when India and China are locked in a bitter border row in eastern Ladakh.
The Malabar exercise began in 1992 as a bilateral drill between the Indian Navy and the US Navy in the Indian Ocean. In 2015, Japan became a permanent member of the exercise. The naval exercise is being conducted in a ‘non-contact, at sea only’ format in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
