New Delhi (NVI): Indian Navy’s largest war game exercise — Theatre Level Operational Readiness Exercise (TROPEX 21) is currently underway in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) for testing its combat readiness in the context of the current geo-strategic environment.
This excercise will witness participation of all units of Indian Navy including ships, submarines, aircraft as well as units of the Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Coast Guard.
“The exercise which commenced in early January will culminate by third week of February,” the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
It added that the exercise is being conducted over a vast geographical expanse in the Indian Ocean Region, including its adjunct waters and is aimed at testing combat readiness of the Navy in a complex multi-dimensional scenario set in the context of the current geo strategic environment.
The theatre-level exercise also aims to validate Navy’s offensive-defence capabilities, safeguard national interests in the maritime domain and promote stability and peace in the IOR.
“The conduct of TROPEX-21 is being overseen by Naval Headquarters with participation from all three Commands of the Indian Navy and the Tri-Services Command at Port Blair,” the Ministry said.
TROPEX-21 is being progressed over distinct phases that also test the Navy’s transition from peacetime to hostilities, it added.
In the first phase, the Indian Navy had conducted coastal defence exercise ‘Sea Vigil’ along the entire coastline and Island territories of India on January 12-13. This exercise aimed to validate the coastal defence setup of the country, which was entirely revamped after the 26/11 terror attacks at Mumbai.
It witnessed large-scale participation from Indian Navy, Coast Guard, Marine Police of 13 coastal States and Union Territories (UTs) along with other stakeholders in the maritime domain, the statement read.
“Valuable lessons emerging from the exercise are being incorporated in the existing procedures to further fine-tune the coastal defence architecture of the country,” it said.
Further, ‘Sea Vigil’ was followed by a large-scale Tri-Service joint amphibious exercise AMPHEX-21, which was conducted in the Andaman and Nicobar group of Islands from January 21-25.
The 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.
Apart from this, the ‘Weapon Workup Phase’ of TROPEX-21, which concluded recently, witnessed multiple ‘on-target’ ordnance deliveries including missiles, torpedoes and rockets from frontline warships, aircraft and submarines and demonstrated the lethal firepower of the Navy.
It also reaffirmed Navy’s capability to carry out long range maritime strikes in the Indian Ocean Region, the ministry noted.
This large scale theatre-level exercise puts to test and validate Navy’s Concept of Operations in various conflict scenarios, hone its warfighting skills, bolster its role towards maritime security in the wider Indian Ocean Region and is in keeping with the theme of being a ‘combat ready, credible and cohesive force’, the statement added.
-RJV
