BY : DAILYINDIA

The Indian Navy will be taking part in a series of bilateral and multilateral exercises, beginning this August, with a host of countries including the United States, France and the United Kingdom at different places ranging from Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Aden and the Bay of Bengal.The Western Fleet and the Eastern Fleet of the Indian Navy will be taking part in succession in the month-long 'constructive engagements' which will see the return of the US aircraft carrier Nimitiz to the Bay of Bengal to participate in the 'Malabar' multilateral exercise.

The six-day Malabar exercise beginning September 4 will see the participation of three aircraft carriers, two from US -Nimitiz and Kitty Hawk- and one from India-Viraat.

The navies of Japan, Australia and the Singapore will also be taking part in the mammoth exercise that would see more than a dozen ships criss-crossing the Bay of Bengal waters for honing their skills to prepare themselves to face any 'multi -threat scenario'.

One of the new manoeuvres that would be adopted in this exercise is the component of Air Defence part in which Jaguar aircraft of Indian Air Force and P3C Orion aircraft from Japan and the US side will be taking part.

Stating that the multilateral exercise in no way is targeted at any specific country, Assistant chief of Naval Staff Rear Admiral Pradeep Chauhan, in an informal chat with reporters here said; "There is no such motive," adding, "Indian Navy is India-centric."

China had earlier expressed its concern over the multilateral Bay of Bengal exercise and had alleged that a quadrilateral arrangement, comprising India, US, Japan and Australia, is being formed directed against it. he Indian Navy will also be taking part in the Varuna bilateral exercise in the second week of September with the French Navy off the Gulf of Aden where three Indian ships- Rajput, Beas and Jyoti - will be taking part in anti-submarine exercise with French La Motte Picquet.

Preceding this five Indian ships, Rajput, Beas, Betwa, Delhi and Jyoti, will be visiting Persian Gulf to take part in a series of 'passage level exercise' with Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. During these exercises the ships, which would be sailing together, try to interact and fine-tune inter-operability. (UAE).

Over the issue of Indian Navy taking part in a bilateral passage exercise with the Royal Navy of Britain just off the Persian Gulf in the vicinity of Iran, Rear Admiral Chauhan said, "We are conscious of the sensitivities involved."