First India-Japan maritime exercise in Bay of Bengal

India’s indigenously built stealth frigate INS Satpura, the Guided Missile Destroyer INS Ranvijay and missile corvette INS Kuthar would participate in the four-day first ever Japan-India Maritime Exercise (JIMEX) to be conducted in waters off the Indian coast in the Bay of Bengal from December 19.

Japan would be participating in the exercise, which would focus on Maritime Security Cooperation, through its Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) that would be bringing in two Guided Missile destroyers, JS Ariake (with Commander Escort Division – 7 embarked), and JS Setogiri.

The exercise will comprise harbour and sea phases of two days each that would strive to enhance interoperability, thereby enabling the two navies to undertake operations in the sphere of maritime security in the future.

During the harbour phase, the ships crews will exchange experiences through professional interactions and will undertake planning for joint operations for the sea phase. The sea phase will include exercises such as VBSS (visit, board, search and seizure) drills -- that are frequently undertaken during anti-piracy operations. They would also undertake gun firing, cross deck Helo operations and operations in anti-surface, anti-submarine and anti-air threat scenarios.

India and Japan had agreed to conduct bilateral naval exercises during Defence Minister A.K. Antony’s visit to Japan in November 2011 and the first such exercise was conducted off Japan in January 2012.