The Malabar exercise

The Indian Navy is to take part in the Malabar exercise and an international fleet review in Japan in November.

Japan will host the 2022 edition of the Malabar naval exercise consisting of India, Australia, Japan and the U.S.
The Indian Navy will also participate in the International Fleet Review (IFR) hosted in the first week of November to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF).
The exercise is scheduled to be held from November 8 to 18.
India is currently hosting the multilateral anti-terror exercise ‘Manesar Antiterror 2022’ under the ambit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Regional AntiTerrorism Structure, scheduled from October 8 to 13.

About:
- It is a multilateral war-gaming naval exercise that was started in 1992.
- The Malabar is named after Malabar, a coastal region in South-West India, where the US Navy (USN) and Indian Navy (IN) first began the exercise in 1992.
Members:
- It began as a bilateral exercise between the navies of India and the United States.
- Japan and Australia first participated in 2007.
- Japan permanently joined the exercise in 2015.
- In,2020 Australia joined the Malabar Exercise.
Aims and objectives:
- It is aimed to support a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and remains committed to a rules-based international order.

Counter Chinese illegitimate expansion:
- A crucial and far-reaching objective of the Malabar Exercise in the last decade has been to keep up with the expansion tactics of China, which is trying to strategically dominate the extensions of the South China Sea and the neighbourhood countries.
To bring peace to international order:
- Factually, other powerful nations like India, the US, Japan, and Australia have united to safeguard the peace in international order and waters.
Enhance Strategic Partnership:
- The Malabar exercises have further enhanced synergy and mutual understanding among the four navies in undertaking joint maritime security operations. They will go a long way in further strengthening their already close strategic partnership.
Sustainable Indo-Pacific Coalition:
- A significant step towards building a sustainable Indo-Pacific coalition, thereby addressing the massive strategic imbalance generated by an economically and militarily powerful China.

About:
- The Western Pacific Naval Symposium are a series of biennial meetings of the Pacific nations to discuss naval matters held on even-numbered years.
Members:
- WPNS has 21 member countries. These are
  - Australia
  - Brunei
  - Cambodia
  - Canada
  - Chile
  - China
  - France
  - Indonesia
  - Japan
  - Malaysia
  - New Zealand
  - Papua New Guinea
  - Peru
  - The Philippines
  - Russia
  - Singapore
  - South Korea
  - Thailand
  - Tonga
  - The USA
  - Vietnam

An IFR is a parade of naval ships, aircraft, and submarines organised by nations to promote goodwill, strengthen cooperation, and showcase their organisational capabilities.
It also serves as an ideal platform for the world’s navies to showcase their prowess and indigenous ship-designing and ship-building capabilities in a global/ international arena.
The Indian Navy last held an international fleet review in February 2016, in which 50 navies took part with nearly 100 warships.

Content Source: The Hindu