Indian Navy’s Major Operational level exercise
TROPEX for the year 2023, conducted across the expanse of Indian Ocean Region
over a duration of four months from Nov 22 - Mar 23, culminated this week in
the Arabian Sea.
The overall exercise construct included
Coastal Defense exercise Sea Vigil and the Amphibious Exercise AMPHEX.
Together, these exercises also witnessed significant participation from the
Indian Army, the Indian Air Force and the Coast Guard.
Set in the Indian
Ocean including the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, the theatre of
operations for the exercise extended approximately 4300 nautical miles from
North to South up to 35 deg South Latitude and 5000 nautical miles from Persian
Gulf in the West to North Australia coast in the East, spanning an area of over
21 million square nautical miles.
TROPEX 23 witnessed participation of
approximately 70 Indian Navy ships, six submarines and over 75 aircraft.
The culmination of
TROPEX 23 brings to an end an intense operational phase for the Indian Navy
that commenced in Nov 2022. As part of the final Joint Phase,
Defense Minister
Rajnath Singh spent a day at sea onboard the newly commissioned Indigenous
Aircraft Carrier Vikrant on March 06th. He reviewed the Indian
Navy’s operational preparedness and material readiness wherein the Navy
demonstrated operational manoeuvers and various facets of combat operations,
including deck operations of indigenous LCA and live weapon firings.
While addressing the
Fleets, he lauded the Operational preparedness of the Indian Navy and
emphasized that the country looks up to the Navy to ensure that the economic
lifelines and military capabilities of our adversaries are disrupted to the
extent where their war fighting endeavors can no longer be
sustained. He also stated that he is fully reassured that Indian
Navy is wholly capable of safeguarding India’s national interests in the
maritime domain and will thwart the diabolical designs of any potential
adversaries who seek to threaten India’s peaceful existence. The Minister
complimented the Indian Navy for being at the forefront of the ‘Make in India’ Initiative and leveraging the path of
Aatmanirbharta to be ‘Combat
Ready, Cedible, Cohesive and Future Proof’
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