First trilateral exercise between navies of India, Singapore, Thailand begins

A maiden trilateral exercise involving navies of Singapore, Thailand, and India commenced at Port Blair on Monday to bolster maritime relationships among three countries and enhance overall security in the region.

A Defence Ministry release said the five-day exercise will strengthen mutual confidence among the three navies in terms of interoperability and development of a common understanding of procedures.

"A maiden trilateral exercise involving Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), Royal Thailand Navy (RTN) and Indian Navy (IN) has commenced at Port Blair on September 19. It is aimed at bolstering the maritime inter-relationships amongst Singapore Thailand and India, and contribute significantly to enhancing the overall maritime security in the region. This would also strengthen the mutual confidence amongst three navies in terms of interoperability and development of a common understanding of procedures," said the release.

Under the ambit of this exercise, RSN Tenacious, a guided missile stealth frigate and His Majesty's Thailand Ship (HTMS) Kraburi, a guided-missile frigate would exercise with Indian Naval Ships - Ranvir, a guided-missile destroyer, Kora, a missile corvette and Sukanya, an offshore patrol vessel along with P8I Long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft.

During the harbour phase at Port Blair, professional exchanges, sports fixtures, and cross-deck familiarisation visits would be organised.

During the sea phase, scheduled from September 18 to 20, a host of surface and air operations involving gunnery, force protection measures and communication drills would be conducted.

The release said that apart from fostering cooperation, the trilateral exercise would provide an opportunity to participating navies to come together in a spirit of collaboration to nurture stronger ties.