Trilateral Maritime Exercise SITMEX-20 | 23 Nov 2020

Why in News

Recently, the second edition of the India, Thailand and Singapore trilateral Naval exercise SITMEX-20 concluded in the Andaman Sea.

Key Points

  • Background:
    • The Prime Minister of India, during his keynote address at Shangri-La Dialogue in June 2018 announced the conduct of a trilateral naval exercise between India, Singapore and Thailand.
      • The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue is Asia’s premier defence summit. It was launched in 2002.
    • The first edition of Singapore-India-Thailand Maritime Exercise (SITMEX), hosted by Indian Navy, was conducted off Port Blair in September 2019. SITMEX is conducted annually.
  • Aim: The SITMEX series of exercises are conducted to enhance mutual interoperability and imbibing best practices between Indian Navy, Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and Royal Thai Navy (RTN).
  • 2020 Edition: The 2020 edition of the exercise is being hosted by RSN (Singapore).
    • The Indian Navy deployed indigenous Anti-Submarine Warfare corvette INS Kamorta and missile corvette INS Karmuk for the exercise.
  • Other Military Exercises between India and Thailand:
  • Other Military Exercises between India and Singapore:
    • Bold Kurukshetra (Army)
    • Joint Military Training (Air Force)
    • SIMBEX (Navy)
      • Indian Navy (IN) is scheduled to host the 27th edition of India - Singapore Bilateral Maritime Exercise SIMBEX-20 from 23rd to 25th November 2020 in Andaman Sea.
      • It has been conducted annually since 1994.

Source: PIB