Indian Naval Ship Talwar is participating in the annual Exercise Cutlass Express 2021, being conducted from July 26 to to August 6 along the East Coast of Africa.
“The exercise focusses on East Africa’s coastal regions and is designed to assess and improve combined maritime law enforcement capacity, promote national and regional security and increase interoperability between the regional navies,” a Navy statement said on Tuesday. The Indian Navy is participating in the exercise in a ‘trainer role’, it noted.
The 2021 edition of the exercise involves the participation of 12 eastern African countries, the U.S., the U.K., India and various international organisations like the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Interpol, European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR), Critical Maritime Routes Indian Ocean (CRIMARIO) and EUCAP Somalia.
The Navy said information sharing and information flow between various partner countries with respect to maritime domain awareness was a key focus of the exercise. The participation of India’s Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) would contribute in achieving the same, it added.
