Port Blair, Sept. 17: A maiden trilateral naval exercise, aimed at bolstering the maritime inter-relationships amongst India, Singapore and Thailand, kick-started in the Andaman Sea yesterday. The exercise will contribute significantly in enhancing the overall maritime security in the region. This is in addition to the individual exercises being undertaken by the Indian Navy (IN) with Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and Royal Thailand Navy (RTN). The exercise involving the three countries will continue till 20th September 2019.

The exercise seeks to strengthen the mutual confidence amongst the three navies in terms of inter-operability and development of common understanding of procedures. Under the ambit of this exercise, RSN Tenacious and HTMS Kraburi would be exercising with Indian Naval Ships Ranvir, Kora, Sukanya and IN MR Aircraft. 

During the Harbour Phase scheduled at Port Blair from 16th September to 17th September 2019, professional exchanges, sports fixtures and cross deck familiarisation visits would be organised. The Sea Phase would be conducted between 18 Sep and 20 Sep 19, wherein, a host of surface and air operations involving Gunnery, Force Protection Measures and Communication drills would be conducted, providing experience gained by learning from each other’s best practices. Besides fostering co-operation, the maiden IN-RSN-RTN Trilateral Exercise would provide the opportunity to the participating navies to come together in a spirit of collaboration to nurture stronger ties.