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Indian Navy participated in the SEACAT exercise

The Indian Navy demonstrated its maritime maneuvers at the US Navy-led South East Asia Cooperation and Training (SEACAT) military exercise in Singapore in August 2021.

ivies of 20 other partner countries were also involved in the military exercise.

Countries like Australia, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States of America and Vietnam participated in SEACAT.

The maritime exercise aimed to foster enhanced cooperation between Southeast Asian countries by incorporating tactics, standardized training, and procedures to combat contingencies or illegal activities in the maritime domain.

Further, the drill is designed to encourage countries to use their naval forces to bolster understanding of the operational environment, build capacity for humanitarian support missions, and uphold international laws and norms.

Notably, the exercise featured a maritime operations canter based out of the International Fusion Centre in Singapore, which will serve as a centralized hub for crisis coordination and information sharing of suspicious vessels during the simulation.

In total, the exercise witnessed close to 400 personnel and 10 ships, including the U.S. Navy’s littoral combat ship Tulsa, P-8A Poseidon aircraft from Task Force 72, along with personnel from Task Forces 73 and 76, and the Pacific and 7th fleets.

Interestingly, the location of maritime exercise is dubbed as one of the most busiest waterways around the globe and has become an increasing focus of maritime interest.

SEACAT began in 2002 as “Southeast Asia Cooperation Against Terrorism” and this is the 20th iteration of the exercise. In 2020, the event was conducted as part of a virtual symposium amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year’s exercise also presents a new element by incorporating international organizations and nongovernmental organizations, whose objective is to create an even more realistic scenario to “enhance understanding and adherence to accepted rules, laws, and norms,” the Navy said.

Such organizations include the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, EU Critical Maritime Route Wider Indian Ocean and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Other countries participating in the exercise include Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, New Zealand, Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, United Kingdom and Vietnam.