Five-nation naval drill begins in Bay of Bengal on Tuesday

NEW DELHI: A multilateral naval drill involving India, the US and three other nations begins in the Bay of Bengal on Tuesday, an event that India says is a pointer to the country's growing importance on the world stage.

This is the first time a joint exercise on this scale involving 25 vessels is being conducted off India's eastern seaboard and New Delhi has repeatedly sought to allay apprehensions that the drill had military overtones.

"There is no military alignment. It's only an exercise," Defence Minister A.K. Antony has said of Malabar-2007 that runs Sep 4-9 and involves the navies of India, the US, Japan, Australia and Singapore.

"Our armed forces exercise with most of the important countries. Every year this is expanding...India's importance is growing. Almost all countries want to engage with us. It's a good thing. It's a recognition of India's prestige and reliability," the minister maintains.

India's Left parties that have been giving Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government a hard time on the India-US civilian nuclear deal, have vehemently protested the joint drill, seeing it as yet another sign of the growing closeness between New Delhi and Washington.

The Left parties have also planned demonstrations at various places along the east coast while the exercise is on.

China, which has not officially commented on the drill, is known to be unhappy over the event as it is being conducted in the Bay of Bengal for the first time. China has been cultivating naval cooperation with Bangladesh and Myanmar to gain access to the Bay of Bengal. China has also been strengthening military cooperation with Sri Lanka.

In June, China had issued a demarche to India, the US, Japan and Australia seeking details about their four-nation meeting, termed a Quadrilateral Initiative. India and Australia had quickly assured Beijing that security and defence issues did not form part of the meeting's agenda.

At one time, the Indian government was known to have considered postponing or even cancelling the drill but the Indian Navy put its foot down, saying the logistics involved made any delay impossible.

The operational area of Malabar-2007 will stretch from Visakhapatnam on the eastern seaboard to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands that guard the approaches to the Strait of Malacca, considered the world's busiest waterway. 

The Malabar series is now in its 13th year. The drill has previously been a bilateral India-US engagement and has been expanded for the first time.

The US Navy will have the largest representation during Malabar-2007 with 13 warships, including the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz that generated much heat when it dropped anchor off Chennai in July.

The other vessels include the conventionally powered carrier USS Kitty Hawk, the nuclear submarine USS Chicago, two guided-missile cruisers, and six guided-missile destroyers.

Seven warships, including the aircraft carrier INS Viraat, will represent the Indian Navy. Viraat's Sea Harrier jets and Sea King helicopters, and the Indian Air Force's Jaguar deep-penetration strike aircraft will also be seen in action.

Australia will be represented by a frigate and a tanker, Japan by two destroyers and Singapore by a frigate.

The Malabar series has slowly evolved over the years.

In 2002, the exercises comprised basic passing manoeuvres among naval vessels, anti-submarine exercises and replenishment-at-sea drills. In 2003 and 2004, Malabar participants included advanced assets like the USS Alexandria, a Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine, and US Navy P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft. This enabled both navies to engage in submarine familiarization exercises, a key capability for anti-submarine warfare collaboration.

In 2005, Malabar featured the participation of the aircraft carriers USS Nimitz and INS Viraat. During a month of operations, US and Indian forces collaborated on a wide variety of tasks ranging from a joint diving salvage operation to a 24-hour "war at sea" simulation that saw the two forces engage in mock combat.

In 2006, a US expeditionary strike group comprising amphibious ships, cruisers, destroyers, and submarines participated in the exercise for the first time.

Malabar-2007, besides interception and dissimilar air combat exercises, will also feature surface and anti-submarine warfare, maritime interdiction and VBSS (visit, board, search and seizure) operations to counter piracy and terrorist acts at sea.