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Naval forces from India and Japan to hold joint military exercise this week

June 6, 2012 at 17:06

Sahil

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The officials from the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) informed media that the proposed joint naval drills with the Indian Navy will start from this month 9th onward.

The drills will be held at the Sagami Bay in the Prefecture of Kanagawa. According to the naval sources, a total of four vessels will take part from the Indian side, including a destroyer, a supply ship, a frigate and a corvette. This is the first ever naval drill between the two nations. The Japanese side will be represented by two destroyers, in addition to a number of maritime aircraft.

The naval exercise, which will last for two days, was finalized last year during the visit of the Indian defence minister AK Antony to Japan. As a countermeasure, a number of Japanese naval vessels will travel to the Indian naval facilities, to take part in another military exercise later this year.

All the vessels participating in the drills, including the Japanese ones, have reached the Yokusuka Naval Base in Kanagawa prefecture. Yokosuka is one of the most important Japanese naval facilities, and is home to a contingent from the U.S. 7th Fleet. The Yokosuka Naval Arsenal (now Yokosuka Ship Repair Facility), was one of the largest shipyards in Japan before the WW2.

Admiral Masahiko Sugimoto, the Chief of Staff, Maritime Self Defence Force said that the naval drills are aimed at cementing the stability and peace prevailing in the Asia-Pacific region. He informed the media that the main focus of the operations will be maritime search and rescue missions.

Although the naval units from Japan and India have previously participated in a number of multilateral naval operations, this is the first time that they are taking part in a bilateral naval drill. A number of Indian naval vessels, including the Shivalik class frigate INS Shivalik, and the Kashin class guided missile destroyer INS Rana had participated in a joint naval operation with the South Korean Navy (ROKN) last week.

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