India completes month-long Navy-led armed forces exercise
27 Feb 2017
The Indian Navy has carried out a mega exercise which saw participation of its strategic assets including a nuclear-powered submarine Chakra and aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, besides Su-30 and Jaguar fighter jets of the Indian Air Force.
The Theatre-level Readiness and Operational Exercise (TROPEX) was conducted to test combat readiness of the combined fleets of the Navy, the Air Force, the Army and the Coast Guard.
The aim of the month-long exercise, which was carried out across the expanse of the Arabian Sea and the North Central Indian Ocean, was to test the combat readiness of the forces to deal with any possible threat.
"TROPEX 2017 assumes great significance in the backdrop of current security scenario. The exercise provided an apt opportunity to test the combat capability of the Indian Navy, Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Coast Guard, and strengthened inter-operability and joint operations in complex conflict situation," the defence ministry said.
Over 45 ships from both the Western and Eastern Naval Commands, five submarines including the nuclear powered Chakra, 50 Naval aircraft, 11 ships from the Coast Guard, troops from the Army and 20 aircraft from the IAF including Su-30s and Jaguars participated in the exercise from 24 January to 23 February.
"The exercise, in complete coordination with the Army and Air Force, was conducted in phases to test the various facets of war-fighting and joint combat capabilities of the armed forces to respond to given threat situations," the ministry said.
It witnessed various weapon firings by ships, submarines and aircraft from both the Navy and the Air Force.
The ministry said the interaction of the forces helped validate operational war fighting concepts and provided valuable lessons to sharpen combat skills.
''The 2017 edition of Tropex included the conduct of large scale 'Out of Area Contingency' in island territory, which saw participation of all three services and their special forces," a ministry statement said.