US, Indian, Japanese Maritime Forces to Participate in Malabar Drills 2017

NEW DELHI (Sputnik) — Aircraft, naval ships and military personnel from the United States, India and Japan will take part in this year's Malabar exercise, slated for July 7-17, the Public Affairs Office of the US Embassy in New Delhi said in a press release on Thursday, stressing that the drills would include both ashore and at-sea training.

"Participants from the U.S. Navy include the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) with embarked Carrier Air Wing 11; the guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59); guided-missile destroyers USS Howard (DDG 83), USS Shoup (DDG 86), and USS Kidd (DDG 100); a P-8A Poseidon aircraft; and a Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine," the press release said.

The US Embassy specified that Japanese would be represented by Maritime Self Defense Force ships JS Sazanami and JS Izumo. As for India, the Indian Navy Headquarters should be contacted to receive the list of Indian forces taking part in the drills.

"Indian, Japanese and U.S. maritime forces have a common understanding and knowledge of a shared working environment at sea. Each iteration of this exercise helps to advance the level of understanding between our Sailors, and we hope to be able to continue this process over time," the Public Affairs Office added.

According to the press release, the exercise, the primary goal of which is to address maritime threats to security in Indo-Asia Pacific, will feature both ashore and at-sea training, including exchanges on carrier strike group and reconnaissance operations, maritime patrol and damage control.

The Malabar exercises were initially set as a joint Indian — US naval drill in 1992, with Japan joining in 2015.