NEW DELHI (AP) - Indian and U.S. destroyers, frigates and submarines conducted joint naval exercises off India's western coast Friday, officials said. The training exercises include anti-submarine operations, boarding hostile vessels and a "simulated war at sea," the Indian navy said in a statement. A Canadian frigate also joined the exercises.
The U.S. Embassy said more than 6,500 U.S. Navy personnel were taking part in the exercises, which began Wednesday and run through Nov. 5. "The purpose of the multinational exercise, which focuses on a number of naval mission areas, is to strengthen ties between American, Canadian and Indian forces as well as enhance the cooperative security relationship between the nations involved," the Embassy said in a statement.
The exercises involve several American and Indian destroyers, guided-missile frigates and other warships carrying out combat, search-and-rescue and patrolling maneuvers in the Arabian Sea. |