New Delhi, Mar 7 (PTI) The navies of India and Sri Lanka on Monday kicked off a four-day maritime exercise with an aim to enhance their operational cooperation.
The exercise is being conducted in two phases — the harbour phase at Visakhapatnam from March 7-8 followed by the sea phase from March 9-10 in the Bay of Bengal, the officials said.
The Indian Navy has deployed guided missile corvette INS Kirch, fleet support tanker INS Jyoti as well as a fleet of Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) Sea King and Chetak helicopters and Dornier maritime patrol aircraft for the exercise, they said.
It is the ninth edition of SLINEX (Sri Lanka–India Naval Exercise). The previous edition of SLINEX was conducted off Trincomalee in October 2020.
The Sri Lankan Navy is being represented by SLNS Sayurala, an advanced offshore patrol vessel, the officials said.
“The SLINEX aims to enhance inter-operability, improve mutual understanding and exchange best practices and procedures for multi-faceted maritime operations between both navies,” Indian Navy Spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal said.
He said the drills during the sea phase will include surface and anti-air weapon firing exercises, seamanship evolutions, cross deck flying, advanced tactical manoeuvres and special forces operations at sea.
“These will further enhance the high degree of inter-operability already existing between the two navies,” he said. PTI MPB CK
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Source: The Print
