The Indian Navy’s major annual exercise ‘TROPEX’ (Theatre Level Operational Readiness Exercise) concluded on 28 Feb 14. The exercise involved large scale naval manoeuvres in all three dimensions viz. surface, air and underwater, across the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.
The month long exercise was aimed to assess the operational readiness of naval units, validate the Navy’s war fighting doctrine and integrate newly included capabilities in its ‘Concept of Operations’. Around 60 ships and submarines, and 75 aircraft took part in this exercise,along withparticipation of units from Indian Air Force and Indian Coast Guard. Theexercise also saw the ‘maiden’ participation by the newly acquired P 8I Long Range Maritime Patrol aircraft and the nuclear submarine, Chakra.
The exercise also provided the Indian Navy with an opportunity to validate its network centric warfare capabilities, with effective utilisation of the recently launched Indian Navy’s Satellite, GSAT 7.
[mappress] Press Release, March 6, 2014, 2014; Image: Indian Navy