Fending off the dragon: Indian navy to activate twin front maritime war games from next year

In January 2018, the Indian navy's Mumbai based western fleet is to start a series of annual theatre level naval exercises. Manoeuvres lasting over a month where aircraft, surface warships and submarines, divided into red and blue forces, will simulate naval war games, refine tactics while bringing their platforms into a high state of operational readiness. Nothing unusual except that less than a month later these exercises will be replicated on the east coast, off Visakhapatnam, by the eastern fleet's warships, aircraft and submarines operating from the mainland up to the Andaman & Nicobar islands and Malacca Straits. This is the first time in recent years the navy is activating both commands. Earlier, it combined both and exercised on one coast, once a year. From next year, naval officials say, simultaneous twin front maritime war games will be the norm.

Naval officials call the theatre level exercises a direct response to China's ramped up naval presence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR); 17 Chinese warships were deployed here this year, the largest in recent years. On August 1, China unveiled a $590 million (Rs 3,831 crore) base