India, Singapore Conduct Major Naval EXercise Near South China Sea

NEW DELHI: Maintaining a high operational tempo during its ongoing deployment to South East Asia, the South China Sea and the Western Pacific, the Indian naval task-force has now conducted a major exercise with Singapore over the last three days.
Guided-missile destroyer INS Ranvijay, with a ship-borne helicopter, anti-submarine warfare corvette INS Kiltan and guided-missile corvette INS Kora, along with a P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft, took part in the ‘SIMBEX’ exercise on the southern fringes of the South China Sea from September 2 to 4.

Singapore, in turn, deployed two warships, frigate RSS Steadfast and missile corvette RSS Vigour, an Archer-class submarine and Fokker-50 maritime patrol aircraft. The Singapore Air Force also fielded four F-16 fighters for air defence drills during the naval exercise.

“Initiated in 1994, SIMBEX is the Indian Navy’s longest uninterrupted bilateral maritime exercise with any foreign navy. Its 28th edition included live-weapon firings and advanced naval operations, including anti-submarine, anti-air and anti-surface warfare drills. The scale and complexity of the exercise is ample testimony to the interoperability achieved between the two navies,” said Navy spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal on Saturday.
The Indian naval task-force towards end-August had participated in the Malabar exercise with the US, Japan and Australia off Guam to further reinforce the growing strategic congruence in ensuring “a free, open, secure and stable” Indo-Pacific against China’s expansionist behavior in the region, as was earlier reported by TOI.

Bilateral exercises, in turn, were conducted with Vietnam and Philippines in tune with India’s “Act East” policy, which includes expanding military ties with ASEAN countries with an eye firmly on China.

India and Singapore, incidentally, recently inked a submarine rescue support pact between their navies.
Under bilateral agreements inked over a decade ago, Singapore uses Indian military facilities for training of its mechanized forces at Babina, artillery at the Deolali ranges and F-16 fighter jets at the Kalaikunda airbase on a regular basis.
India has also inked a naval pact with Singapore to access each other’s bases and reciprocal logistics support for warships.

Source: ToI