IN-EUNAVFOR Joint Naval Exercise | 19 Jun 2021

Why in News

The maiden Indian Navy - European Union Naval Force (IN-EUNAVFOR) Exercise is being conducted in Gulf Of Aden.

Key Points

  • Participants
    • Along with Indian Navy, other naval forces are from Italy, Spain and France.
    • The naval exercise included advanced air defence and anti-submarine exercises, tactical manoeuvres, Search & Rescue, and other maritime security operations.
  • Aim:
    • To enhance and hone their war-fighting skills and their ability as an integrated force to promote peace, security and stability in the maritime domain.
  • Significance:
    • EUNAVFOR and the Indian Navy converge on multiple issues including counter piracy operations and protection of vessels deployed under the charter of World Food Programme (UN WFP).
    • The two navies also have regular interaction through SHADE (Shared Awareness and Deconfliction) meetings held annually at Bahrain.
      • SHADE is an international operational counter piracy platform, convened in Bahrain.
      • It aimed to encourage partners for sharing information, assessing the evolution of trends, best practices and to de-conflict operations amongst counter-piracy actors in the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Oman and the Western Indian Ocean.
    • It also underscores the shared values in ensuring freedom of seas and commitment to an open, inclusive and a rules-based international order.
    • Concurrently, a virtual “Information sharing Exercise” is also being conducted between the Indian Navy Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region and Maritime Security Centre-Horn of Africa, an integral part of EUNAVFOR.
Major Indian Maritime Exercises
Name of the Exercise Name of the Country
SLINEX Sri Lanka
Bongosagar and IN-BN CORPAT Bangladesh
JIMEX Japan
Naseem-Al-Bahr Oman
Indra Russia
Za’ir-Al-Bahr Qatar
Samudra Shakti Indonesia
Indo-Thai CORPAT Thailand
IMCOR Malaysia
SIMBEX Singapore
AUSINDEX Australia
Malabar Exercise Japan, and the USA

Source: PIB