New Delhi (Sputnik): India has conducted a major military exercise involving all the three services- Army, Navy & Air Force- under the aegis of the Andaman & Nicobar Command, which is few nautical miles away from Strait of Malacca- China's gateway to the Indian Ocean.
"The main objective of the exercise was to practice & validate the procedures and drills of all the Command forces aimed at defending the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Accretional forces from the mainland, including fighters, special forces, naval ships and heavy-lift transport aircraft participated in the exercise," India's Ministry of Defense said in a statement after the culmination of five days of exercise that started on 20 November.
After the exercise, the Commander-in-Chief of Andaman and Nicobar Command, Vice Admiral Bimal Verma, urged all "to focus on the takeaways from the exercise for being fully prepared for any eventuality in future."
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India's state-owned Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is setting up a land-based long-range missile facility at south Andaman's Rutland Island, approximately 200 kilometer from the Strait of Malacca — the chief transit way for most of China's trade and 80% of its energy shipments.
