Lessons learnt from the exercise will provide accurate assessment to fine tune force structuring requirements and war fighting concepts

Continuing with India’s process to keep its armed forces operationally ready and meet any adversarial challenges, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh on Friday carried out detailed review of recently concluded theatre-level TROPEX-21 exercise which involved all three Commands of the Indian Navy and elements of Indian Army, IAF and Coast Guard.

This daylong review of TROPEX 21 by the Chief of the Naval Staff at Kochi with all Operational Commanders examined the conduct of the exercise with the aim to draw lessons and to review Doctrines and procedures of the Indian Navy along with a realistic audit of the deployment philosophy and fighting capability, the Ministry of Defence said.

The exercise, which had commenced in January 2021, aimed at validating the concept of war-fighting across the entire spectrum of warfare.

Spread over the vast geographical expanse of Indian Ocean and its adjunct waters, the exercise centred round the extant geopolitical situation in the Indian Ocean Region.

The exercise was aimed at validating Indian Navy’s op philosophy across the entire spectrum of conflict-ranging from addressing low end sub- conventional challenges to high end conventional threats.

Live combat firings of missiles and torpedoes were also undertaken from warships, aircraft and submarines in complex multi- threat scenarios.

As a prelude to this Theatre Level exercise, a coastal defence exercise – Sea Vigil was conducted in mid-January 21 which witnessed all stakeholder Ministries of Government of India, State Governments of all coastal states and UTs, the Coast Guard, Port Authorities, shipping and fishing communities coming together and exercising in tandem, with the Indian Navy as the lead agency.

This was followed by an amphibious exercise (AMPHEX- 21) in which Indian naval amphibious ships, units of the Indian Army and Indian Air Force undertook joint exercise in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, with an aim to validate India’s capabilities to safeguard the territorial integrity of its Island territories.

AMPHEX- 21 saw several ‘firsts’ and strengthened joint war fighting capabilities and Standard Operating Procedures towards enhancing operational synergy amongst the Services.