India kicks off massive naval exercise

The Indian Navy is carrying out a mega war game involving almost all its operational assets like warships, submarines and aircraft in the Indian Ocean Region to check the force’s combat readiness amid China’s growing military forays into the region, Report informs referring to EastMojo.

The biennial Theatre Level Operational Readiness Exercise (TROPEX) is aimed at “validating and refining” the Navy’s concept of “operations” as well as to test overall combat capabilities, officials said on January 24.

The TROPEX is being conducted over a duration of three months from January to March and assets of the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force and the Coast Guard are being deployed for the mega drills.

“As part of the exercise, all surface combatants of the Indian Navy including destroyers, frigates, corvettes as well as submarines and aircraft are put through complex maritime operational deployments to validate and refine the Navy’s concept of operations including operational logistics and interoperability with other services,” Navy spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal said.

He said the exercise is being conducted in different phases, both in harbor and at sea, encompassing various facets of combat operations including live weapon firings.