Republic of Singapore Navy frigate RSS Formidable arrived to India for the bilateral naval exercise Simbex-16 which will be focused on anti-submarine warfare this year.
This year’s Simbex is being held in the Bay of Bengal region and is the 23rd iteration in the series aimed at increasing interoperability between the two navies.
The harbor phase is scheduled to last from October 31 to November 2 while a range of operational activities at sea during the sea phase is to be held between November 3-5. The thrust of exercises at sea this year would be on anti-submarine warfare (ASW), integrated operations with surface, air and sub-surface forces, air defense and surface encounter exercises.
During Simbex-16, the Singapore Navy is being represented by RSS Formidable and maritime patrol aircraft Fokker 50 operating from Port Blair. The Indian Navy is taking part in the exercise with INS Ranvijay a guided missile destroyer, INS Kamorta, an indigenous ASW stealth Corvette, one Sindhugosh class submarine and a number of different aircraft.