Indian Navy holds bilateral maritime exercise with UK’s Royal Navy

“The exercises covered all domains of maritime operations — air, surface, and sub-surface — and included gunnery shoots on surface inflatable target ‘Killer Tomato’, helicopter operations, anti-air and anti-submarine warfare drills, Visit Board Search and Seizure (VBSS), ship manoeuvres and exchange of personnel,” the Navy said in a statement.

It added that the exercise yielded excellent training value to personnel of both navies. A high level of professionalism and enthusiasm was also evident during its conduct.

#Konkan2023 was held between #IndianNavy & @RoyalNavy, 20-22 Mar 23 in the Arabian Sea off the Konkan Coast.#INSTrishul & @HMSLANCASTER engaged in gun shoots, anti-air exercises, ASW tracking, helicopter flying and manoeuvres.
🇮🇳-🇬🇧 #BridgesofFriendship pic.twitter.com/sZooVYrcpU

— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) March 23, 2023

“The focus personnel exhibited on op-readiness, enhancing interoperability and improving the ability to conduct joint operations will go a long way in bolstering the combined efforts of the IN and RN to strengthen maritime security and uphold a rules-based order in the region,” the Navy said in the statement.

As per the navy, preparations for the exercise had started over three months ago.

The initial planning conference for Exercise Konkan-23 between the two navies was held on December 1 last year in Mumbai, where both sides worked out operational and administrative aspects related to conduct of the exercise.

Earlier, the Navy had said that bilateral exercises and interaction between the two navies had grown from strength to strength over the years based on evolving geopolitical factors and envisaged threats in the region.