'Navy will always remain ready to protect, promote, preserve national interests in maritime domain'

Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba said the Navy will "always remain ready" to "protect, promote and preserve national interests in the maritime domain."

The Navy Chief, while addressing Naval commanders in Kochi on Monday, also urged to maintain the high tempo of operations and to keep sharp vigil including stringent security measures to ensure safe coasts and secure seas.

Admiral Lanba and other top officials of the Navy arrived in Kochi on Monday for the debrief of the recently-concluded annual Theatre Level Readiness and Operational Exercise (TROPEX).

The day-long review of TROPEX 2019 was undertaken to examine the conduct of exercise and to assess operational readiness of the Indian Navy. A realistic audit of the Indian Navy's deployment philosophy and fighting capability was undertaken during the review. Lessons learnt from the exercise will provide the Indian Navy accurate assessments to fine-tune combat deployments, force structuring requirements, operational logistics as also material and training imperatives, said an official release issued by the Ministry of Defence.

TROPEX - the largest maritime exercise of the Indian Navy- was conducted in the month of February in the Arabian Sea and North Indian Ocean. It was, thus far, the largest in terms of geographical extent covering the IOR, and also with regard to a number of units participating. The exercise was conducted from January 7 and graduated smoothly into providing the Navy high operational readiness posture post the Pulwama terror attack.

About 60 ships of Indian Navy, 12 ships of Indian Coast Guard and 60 aircraft participated in TROPEX. The exercise also included a Tri-services Amphibious Exercise that saw the participation of Army and Air Force personnel and assets.

As a prelude to TROPEX, the largest coastal defence exercise over codenamed 'Sea Vigil', was conducted on January 22 and 23 with the participation of all coastal states and union territories along with all maritime stakeholders. Overall, the exercise validated the Navy's readiness and capability to meet various mandated roles, in support of national objectives.