India to host multilateral Naval exercises

Indian Navy proposes to stage multilateral maritime war games off its shores as well as join in other such international exercises as a sequel to intensive bilateral naval interaction with major maritime powers.

The idea of holding multilateral naval exercises was mooted by visiting Royal Navy Chief and First Sea Lord Sir Johnathan Band during his interaction with top Naval brass in New Delhi on Monday.

Band is the second top Naval commander to have proposed to India such focused maritime war games. Last week, visiting Commander of the US Pacific fleet Admiral Gary Roughhead had also suggested holding of such navy exercises.

The Commanders of the two most powerful navies in the world felt time has come to make such naval exercises more focused on regional threats and also to build better inter-operatability between the navies with shared perceptions.

Expressing concern over the rising dangers to sea-lanes posed by terrorists, the British Naval Chief suggested that India and Britain combine to fight these elements. He also exchanged views with Indian Naval commanders on Proliferation Security Initiative, which India is yet to sign.

In his one-to-one talks with the Navy Chief Admiral Arun Prakash and later interaction with Principal Staff officers at the Naval headquarters in New Delhi, Band suggested that wider interaction between navies of democratic countries could help tackle the menace of sea piracy and the danger of spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction through sea-lanes.