The multinational exercise Malabar 2024, hosted by India, began on October 8 in the Bay of Bengal with advanced drills among the navies of the Quad security partnership—Australia, India, Japan, and the United States—and concluded on October 18 at Visakhapatnam. The forces focused on anti-submarine warfare, maritime interoperability, and enhancing regional security.
This edition of Malabar featured a range of assets, including warships equipped with integral helicopters, long-range maritime patrol aircraft, and submarines. Participating units engaged in complex and sophisticated exercises across surface, subsurface, and air warfare domains.
“Major exercises included surface weapon firings, anti-air shoots, air defence exercises, anti-submarine warfare exercises, extensive operations of ship borne helicopters, seamanship evolutions including fuelling from tankers and maritime interdiction operations,” Indian Navy said.
State-of-the-art ships participated in the exercise, including the USS Dewey and Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer of the US Navy, HMAS Stuart and ANZAC Class Frigate of the Royal Australian Navy, and JS Ariake, a Murasame Class Destroyer of the Japanese Navy. Additionally, a US Navy P-8A Poseidon took part in the exercise.
The Indian Navy deployed its frontline warship assets, including the Delhi-class destroyer INS Delhi, the Talwar-class frigate INS Tabar, the Kamorta-class corvettes INS Kamorta and INS Kadmatt, the fleet oiler INS Shakti, a submarine, and a P-8I maritime patrol aircraft.
“MALABAR 2024 Sea Phase serves as a testament to the commitment of participating nations towards enhancing understanding, collaboration and engagement in the maritime domain as the world grapples with increasingly complex maritime security challenges,” Navy said in a statement.
#MALABAR2024
The Multinational Maritime Exercise #MALABAR 24 concluded on #18Oct 24 with a Closing Ceremony at #Visakhapatnam.
The exercises provided an opportunity to all participating nations to interact & share best practices towards consolidating existing #Interoperability &… https://t.co/u5e6HZkFBu pic.twitter.com/bGzfTNTPaP— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) October 19, 2024
The Bay of Bengal is crucial to key sea lines of communication (SLOCs) connecting East Asia to Africa and the Middle East, including China, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula. Nearly half of the world’s trade and energy supplies transit through this region, making the maintenance of sea control and stability along these routes essential for the economic and energy security of many countries across the Indo-Pacific.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh stressed on the need to continuously empower the Indian Navy in view of the ever-growing global interest in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) recently during an event where he laid the foundation stone of a new Very Low Frequency (VLF) Station of the Indian Navy in Telangana on October 15.
“Our interest is spread across the Indo-Pacific region. We have also emerged as the first responder and a preferred security partner in the IOR. Today, many countries have shifted their focus towards marine resources in the region. Maintaining peace and order in the Bay of Bengal and IOR should be the top priority of all of us. The support of all friendly countries is necessary in this endeavour of India,” Singh observed during his address at the event.
“India has consistently advocated for a peaceful resolution to disputes and has sought to promote cooperation among nations in the Indo-Pacific,” Singh said at the Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue 2024 in New Delhi on October 4.
Tensions in the Indo-Pacific have escalated significantly, primarily due to China intensifying its naval activities in the region. Alongside its growing aggression in the South China Sea, Chinese vessels—disguised as research ships—have been increasingly conducting surveillance operations in the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal over the past few months.
For the United States, its allies, and partners, preserving a Free and Open Indo-Pacific is essential to counter China’s (PRC) increasingly aggressive presence in the region and ensure unrestricted access to vital maritime routes.
The Malabar series of maritime exercises commenced in 1992 as a bilateral initiative between the Indian and U.S. Navies. In 2015, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) joined Malabar as a permanent participant, followed by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), which made its inaugural participation in 2020. Now in its 28th iteration, Malabar continues to evolve, increasing complexity and fostering greater interactivity among the participating navies.
Ravi Shankar
