HMAS ship, submarine arrive in Vizag to participate in AUSINDEX

Visakhapatnam: Her Majesty's Australian Ships (HMAS) Canberra (L02), a Landing Helicopter Dock, Newcastle(06) and Paramatta(154), both frigates and Success (OR 304), a durance-class multi-product replenishment oiler along with HMAS Collins, a conventional submarine arrived Visakhapatnam to participate in the third edition of Australia – India Maritime Exercise, AUSINDEX on Tuesday.

The bilateral maritime exercise is aimed to strengthen mutual cooperation and enhance interoperability between the Royal Australia Navy (RAN) and Indian Navy (IN) by providing opportunities for interaction and exchange of professional views between the personnel of the two navies.

The third edition of AUSINDEX scheduled from April 2 to 14 would involve exercises in all three dimensions with focus on Anta i-Submarine Warfare and shall be held in three phases. The harbour phase from April 2 to 7 at Visakhapatnam, shall witness professional interaction in the form of Subject Matter Expert Exchange for sharing best practices, cross deck visits in addition to sporting, social and cultural engagement.

Operational planning conferences towards the smooth conduct of the sea phase shall also be held during this period. The sea phase operations from April 7 to 11 to be held in the Bay of Bengal followed by a second harbour phase from April 12 to 14 during which setting up of goals for the next edition of AUSINDEX, which is likely to be hosted by Australia in 2021, would be discussed.

The IN would be represented by INS Ranvijay, a multi-role destroyer, INS Sahyadri, a multi-role stealth frigate, INS Kora, a missile corvette, INS Kiltan, an ASW corvette and INS Sindhukirti, a conventional submarine. In addition to embarked helicopters such as Seaking Mk 42B and Chetak, the aviation component of the IN shall include Dornier maritime patrol aircraft, Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers and P8I ASW aircraft.