Indian Navy Chief participates in 25th ISS held in US

Indian Navy Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) Admiral R Hari Kumar participated in the 25th International Seapower Symposium (ISS) held in the United States of America.

The event was organized by the US Navy at the International Seapower Symposium (ISS) from 19 to 22 September 2023 at the US Naval War College Newport Rhode Island.

CNS R Hari Kumar's talks with other countries:

• During this period, CNS also held bilateral talks with its counterparts from many other countries other than ISS.
• He also held bilateral talks with his counterparts from various countries, mainly including the United States, Australia, Egypt, Fiji, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Britain.
• The wide-ranging programs organized during the State Visit are a demonstration of the Indian Navy's determination to realize the vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region and an international rules-based order.
• During the visit, extensive discussions were held to explore Indian Navy (IN) – United States Navy (USN) operational partnerships in bilateral and multilateral exercises such as MALABAR, RIMPAC, Sea Dragon and Tiger Triumph.
• The CNS also discussed in detail the challenges of human resource management in ISS.
• There are also regular subject matter expert exchanges between the two navies to institutionalize interoperability in various areas.
• It made special reference to India's initiatives towards recruitment and retention of trained personnel and addressing these through the Agneepath scheme, empowering women and making the Indian Navy a gender-neutral force.

The visit of CNS Admiral R Hari Kumar further strengthened defense relations between the two countries:

• CNS's visit to the US has further deepened bilateral cooperation. It also has provided an important opportunity for top-level naval engagement to engage with diverse partners in the Indo-Pacific.

Military exercises between Indian and American armed forces:

• India has been conducting bilateral exercises with the armed forces of various countries of the world from time to time. Due to this, India practises more with America than other countries.
• This bilateral exercise involves all three formations of the Army; Some of these can be seen as follows:

Army-related exercises:

• Yudh Abhyas: The exercises are conducted with brigade-level mission planning as well as at the battalion level (about 250 soldiers from each army).
• Vajra Prahar (Army Special Forces): It was started in 2010. It is conducted between American and Indian special forces squads. Its latest edition (13th edition) was held on 28 August 2022 at Bakloh, Himachal Pradesh.

Air Force-related exercises:

• Cope India: The latest edition of Cope India-23 (sixth edition) was held in April 2023 at Air Force Stations Kalaikunda, Panagarh and Agra.

Exercises related to Tri-Seva:

• Tiger Triumph (TRIUMPH):
• Tiger Triumph means Tri-Services India US is from amphibious exercise. In this, a contingent of the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force participates in the exercise along with the US Navy and its Marine Corps.
• The first exercise of Tiger Triumph was conducted near Visakhapatnam and Kakinada in November 2019.
• While its second edition was held in Visakhapatnam from 18 to 20 October 2022.

Multilateral Military Exercises:

• Malabar Naval Exercise:
• Started in the year 1992.
• Currently four countries participate in it: India, USA, Australia and Japan.
• Japan joined this exercise in 2015 and Australia in 2020.
• Its latest edition (27th Exercise of Malabar) was conducted in Sydney, Australia in August 2023.
• RIMPAC Naval Exercise:
• Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC) is the world's largest naval exercise conducted by the US Navy.
• Its 22nd edition was held in 2022, in Hawaii, USA. It saw the participation of an Indian Navy warship and a maritime patrol aircraft.

Special exercise between India and America:

• Exercise Sangam:
• It is a joint naval special forces exercise involving the Indian Navy's Marine Commando Force (MARCOS) and the US Navy's special forces, SEALs.
• The first Sangam exercise was conducted in 1994.
• The 7th edition of Abhyas Sangam was held in Goa in December 2022.
• Exercise Tarkash:
• This is a joint exercise between the elite anti-terrorism forces of the two countries.
• In this exercise, the National Security Guard participates from the Indian side while its special forces participate from the American side.