By IANS
New Delhi : In what could signal a paradigm shift in its philosophy, the Indian Navy adopted NATO procedures during the five-nation war games also involving the US that concluded in the Bay of Bengal Sunday.
These procedures have largely been evolved by the US and are familiar to the Australian, Japanese and Singaporean navies that participated in the five-day Malabar-2007 joint drill and to that extent, were a unique first for the Indian Navy.
The war games featured three aircraft carriers and 22 other vessels participating in a variety of manoeuvres like interception and dissimilar air combat exercises, surface and anti-submarine warfare, maritime interdiction and VBSS (visit, board, search and seizure) operations to counter piracy and terrorist acts at sea.
The Malabar series was in its 13th year. The drill had previously been a bilateral India-US engagement and was expanded for the first time to include three other nations.
Given the opposition of the Left parties to the war games, the Indian defence ministry has all through the exercise refrained from making any official comments but Indian Navy officers who were part of the action are extremely pleased after the effort.
For example, in NATO-prescribed procedures, US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets operating from the carriers Nimitz and Kitty Hawk flew upwards of 20 “buddy” refuelling sorties with the Indian Navy’s Sea Harriers flying from INS Viraat.
The NATO procedures were extended to other sectors of the exercise as well in areas like anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial offensive and defence manoeuvres.
More significantly, the US gave the Indian Navy access to its Centrix satellite-based system that enabled the exchange of audio, video and data between the participating ships.
Given the vast scope of the war games, the operational area of Malabar-2007 stretched from Visakhapatnam on the eastern seaboard to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands that guard the approaches to the Strait of Malacca, considered the world’s busiest waterway.
The US Navy had the largest representation at Malabar-2007 with 13 warships, including the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz that generated much heat when it dropped anchor off Chennai in July.
The other vessels included the conventionally powered carrier USS Kitty Hawk, the nuclear submarine USS Chicago, two guided-missile cruisers, and six guided-missile destroyers.
Seven warships, including the aircraft carrier INS Viraat, represented the Indian Navy. Viraat’s Sea Harrier jets and Sea King helicopters, and the Indian Air Force’s Jaguar deep-penetration strike aircraft were also seen in action.
Australia sent a frigate and a tanker, Japan sent two destroyers and Singapore sent a frigate for the drill.