Navy Chief Admiral Singh reviews key aspects of TROPEX exercise

Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh on Friday carried out a detailed review of a recently-concluded theatre-level naval exercise involving large number of warships, submarines and aircraft over a vast geographical expanse in the Indian Ocean Region, officials said. Key elements of the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force and the Coast Guard were also part of the biennial exercise that was billed as the largest drill conducted by the Indian Navy to validate its concepts of war-fighting across the entire spectrum of warfare.

Admiral Singh presided over the debriefing of TROPEX-21 (Theatre Level Operational Readiness Exercise) at Kochi and it was attended by several top commanders of the force, the officials said.

“The daylong review of the exercise by the Chief of the Naval Staff with all operational commanders examined the conduct of the exercise with the aim to draw lessons and to review doctrines and procedures along with a realistic audit of the deployment philosophy and fighting capability,” a Navy spokesperson said.

He said the lessons learnt from the exercise will provide the planners accurate assessments to fine tune force structuring, warfighting concepts, operational logistics as also material and training imperatives.

The exercise took place at a time China has been making increasing forays into the Indian Ocean region as part of its offensive military manoeuvre.

It had commenced in January and continued in phases before it concluded a few days back.

The exercise was spread over the vast geographical expanse of Indian Ocean and its adjunct waters and scenarios for the drills centred around the extant geopolitical situation in the region.

“The exercise was aimed at validating Indian Navy’s operational philosophy across the entire spectrum of conflict-ranging from addressing low end sub-conventional challenges to high end conventional threats,” the spokeperson said.

He said live combat firings of missiles and torpedoes were also undertaken from warships, aircraft and submarines in complex multi-threat scenarios.

As a prelude to the exercise, a coastal defence exercise – Sea Vigil was conducted in mid January which witnessed participation of all stakeholders including the Coast Guard, port authorities, shipping and fishing communities among others.

This was followed by an amphibious exercise (AMPHEX- 21) in which Indian naval amphibious ships, units of the Indian Army and Indian Air Force undertook joint exercise in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman sea.

“AMPHEX- 21 saw several ‘firsts’ and strengthened joint war fighting capabilities and standard operating Procedures towards enhancing operational synergy amongst the services,” the official said.

The amphibious exercise was aimed at validating India’s capabilities to safeguard the territorial integrity of its island territories and enhance operational synergy and joint warfighting capabilities amongst the three services.