Pre sail conference held prior to commencement of exercise Malabar

Pre sail conference and final briefing prior to commencement of sea phase of exercise Malabar was held between navies of India, Japan and US.

Rear Adm Suraj Berry, FOCEF from Indian Navy, Rear Adm James E Pitts, CTF 54 of UN Navy and Rear Adm Masafumi Nisiwaki, CCF4 of JMSDF along with Commanding Officers and Ops Teams of all ships participating in Malabar 2019 attended the conference and the briefing which was held on September 29.

As part of Harbour Phase, personnel from India, US and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) held professional interaction in the form of subject matter expert exchange (SMEE) and shared best practices in common aspects of maritime operations.

Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) drills for all Boarding Teams were conducted onboard INS Kiltan and Cross Deck Briefings for aircrew of all three navies was undertaken onboard JS Chokai.

Junior officers from IN Ships Sahyadri and Kiltan participated along with their counterparts from the JMSDF and USN in the 'Young Officers Interaction' event to develop a better understanding between the three navies.

Officers and men of INS Sahyadri also participated in a three-way Futsal tournament with their counterparts from the USN and JMSDF as part of sports interaction.

The personnel of the participating ships also undertook a clean-up drive of public spaces at the Sasebo Yamatocho, children's home, as part of goodwill community service.

A joint briefing was carried out for the crew of the three participating MPRA Squadrons. Maritime Patrol Aircraft Crew of VP-5 'Mad Foxes' US Navy VP-3 'Sea EAGLES' of JMSDF and INAS 312 'Albatross' of Indian Navy were lined up at Atsugi Air Base, Japan prior to operations in support of Malabar-19.