From Tuesday, a massive naval exercise, codenamed as Malabar, has been begun in the Indian Ocean. The warships from the United States and four other nations including India are ready for flexing their naval strengths in this joint exercise.

The Indian Ocean is said to be one of the busiest shipping lanes in world that accounts for 60 percent of the world’s maritime energy transport.

According to the report, 27 ships and submarines from the US, Australia, Japan and Singapore have kicked off the 6-day naval exercise with seven Indian submarines in the Bay of Bengal.

Indian Navy spokesman Vinay Garg said that this naval exercise would be one of the biggest ever peacetime joint military exercises in the world. It would include the exercise of anti-piracy, reconnaissance and rescue missions, honing inter-operability or coordination skills between the naval armies of the four nations.

The report said that the exercise would stretch from the eastern coast to the Andamans near Indonesia. The super-carriers USS Nimitz and USS Kitty Hawk of the US Navy’s Pacific fleet and India’s lone aircraft carrier, the INS Viraat, would also take part in this massive exercise.

The government of India had rejected the claims saying that the joint naval exercise is aimed to show China the rising Indian importance even in naval field.

Minister of State for Defence Pallam Raju said that the exercise aimed to ensure the security of the sea-lanes of communication. Another tri-nation naval exercise involving Brazil, India and South Africa will be held in May next year.

The Sri Lanka government has welcomed the 5-nation naval practices and said that it would help to bolster maritime military cooperation and would restrict activities of Tamil Tiger arms smugglers in the sea region.

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