The first phase of the Malabar naval exercise featuring navies of India, the US, Japan and Australia will take place from November 3 to 6 in the Bay of Bengal off Visakhapatnam coast
The four-nation naval exercise will be held later this year
The US and Japan are the other countries that participate in the annual exercise, which is likely to take place next month in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea
The annual series of naval exercises, known as the Malabar series, began in 1992
India's INS Vikramaditya, Japan's JS Izumo and US' Nimitz carrier are taking part in the war game
China has been watching the Malabar trilateral exercise with unease
China has deployed a surveillance ship to keep an eye on the Malabar exercise