The Indian Navy and the Indonesian Navy on Thursday conducted bilateral military exercise PASSEX in the Arabian Sea to strengthen Bilateral Maritime Cooperation

The Indian Navy and the Indonesian Navy on Thursday conducted bilateral military exercise PASSEX in the Arabian Sea. The exercise was conducted with a view to enhancing interoperability & strengthening Bilateral Maritime Cooperation between the two navies. Indian Navy Ship INS Talwar and Indonesian Navy's multirole Corvette KRI Bung Tomo were part of the Passage Exercise. 

India's Participation In Naval Exercises

The Indian Navy has participated in the Maritime Exercises with a number of countries recently including Japan, Russia, Australia and the US, despite the COVID-19 pandemic posing challenges. Indian Navy had conducted PASSEX with Russian Federation Navy (RuFN)in the Eastern Indian Ocean Region (IOR) in December 2020.

The PASSEX with RuFN involves the participation of RuFN guided-missile cruiser Varyag, the large anti-submarine ship Admiral Panteleyev and medium ocean tanker Pechenga while the Indian Navy was represented by indigenously constructed guided-missile frigate Shivalik and anti-submarine corvette Kadmatt along with integral helicopters. 

PASSEXs are conducted regularly by Indian Navy with units of friendly foreign navies, whilst visiting each other's ports or during a rendezvous at sea.

In November 2020, India hosted the Malabar exercise, in which the navies of the US, Japan and Australia participated. India invited Australia for the exercise, effectively making it a drill by all the Quad member nations. 

In September 2020, the PASSEX was conducted Royal Australian Navy in the east Indian Ocean region. It involved advanced surface and anti-air exercises including weapon firing, seamanship exercises, naval manoeuvres and Cross Deck Flying Operations. The exercise is usually conducted in the east Indian Ocean region. The PASSEX in September reflected the growing strength of Indo-Australian bilateral relations as comprehensive strategic partners, particularly in defence cooperation in the maritime domain.