AUSINDEX EXERCISE - DEFENCE & SECURITY
News: Australian
Air Force P-8A patrol aircraft lands in Tamil Nadu for anti-submarine warfare
drills
What's in the news?
● The
Australian Air Force’s long-range maritime
patrol aircraft P-8A landed at INS RAJALI Naval air station in Tamil Nadu
for the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) exercise with Indian Navy P-8I aircraft
which is being held from June 30 -
July 6.
● The
drills are part of ongoing exercises aimed at promoting interoperability
especially in the subsurface domain.
Key takeaways:
● Maritime
Domain Awareness, Subsurface Domain Awareness and ASW have been major focus
areas for the Quad group of countries comprising India, Australia, Japan and
the U.S. in the backdrop of rapid expansion of Chinese naval presence in the
Indian Ocean Region.
AUSINDEX Exercise:
Aim:
● The
focus of the exercise is on maritime surveillance operations, enhancing
interoperability and information-sharing exchanges,
Participating Nations - India and Australia
Period:
● AUSINDEX
is a bilateral operation every two
years.
Features:
● It
is a naval (maritime) exercise between
India and Australia, was conducted to share a comprehensive strategic
partnership to build and maintain a strong and stable military cooperation
between the two nations.
Other key takeaways:
● In
March, Indian Navy deployed a P-8I for
‘Exercise Sea Dragon 23’, the third edition of the coordinated multilateral
ASW exercise for long-range ASW aircraft, conducted
by the U.S. Navy at Guam which also saw participation of Canada, Japan, South
Korea.
● This
August, Australia is set to host the
Malabar multilateral naval exercise for the first time this year,
consisting of India, Australia, Japan and the U.S., in Sydney which has
significantly grown in scope and complexity with particular emphasis on ASW
drills.
○ Australia
was included as a permanent member of Ex. Malabar in 2020 amid the stand-off
with China in Eastern Ladakh. Japan hosted the last edition of Malabar which
was held in November 2022.
○ This
also marked 30 years of the exercise which began as a bilateral exercise
between India and the U.S. in 1992.
● India
acquiring more and more military hardware from the U.S. has added to the
commonality of platforms and in turn interoperability among militaries of the
Quad countries.