The Hindu : New Delhi News : India ready for naval exercises with GCC countries

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Sunday, Dec 23, 2007
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New Delhi

India ready for naval exercises with GCC countries

Atul Aneja

FUJAIRAH (UAE): The Indian Navy was ready to hold joint exercises with countries belonging to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), defence attache to the GCC countries M.D. Suresh said.

“We are ready to hold naval exercises either on a bilateral basis or multilaterally with the GCC countries.”

He made these remarks at a press conference which coincided with the goodwill visit of the two modern Indian naval ships, INS Brahmaputra and INS Tabar to the port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates.

Fujairah’s location along the Sea of Oman was significant as ships docking here could avoid crossing the vulnerable strait of Hormuz — a narrow shipping channel located towards the north.

Largest oil exporters

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and the UAE made the GCC. The GCC countries together were the largest oil exporters of the world. India and China were among the fastest growing consumers of oil produced by the GCC.

Ties growing

The visit of 40 naval ships to the region in the last three years showed that India’s military ties with West Asia were growing rapidly, Ambassador to the UAE, Talmiz Ahmad, who also addressed the press conference, said. Eleven of these ships had visited Fujairah, the largest oil bunkering station in the world.

“These visits are a matter of celebration as they reaffirm the nautical links that India has maintained with this region for centuries,” he said.

While security of the sea lanes bringing oil to India was a prime area of interest, it was the responsibility of the littoral nations to ensure that interruptions were avoided, Captain Suresh said.

For India, the Bab Al Mandab on the junction of the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea as well as the strait of Hormuz were special areas of concern because oil tankers transited through them.

Symposium

Aware of the need for greater collective security cooperation in the region, the Navy was organising the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) in February. The IONS would become a regular feature which would allow sustained interaction among the naval chiefs of the countries belonging to the Indian Ocean rim.

The purpose of this initiative was to develop a “cooperative, consultative and inclusive” mechanism that would address threats to Indian Ocean security, S.N. Ghormande, the Commanding Officer of INS Brahmaputra, said.

In view of its growing responsibilities, the Navy was continuing to expand and improve qualitatively. For instance, the long-range Russian-built Klub missile had been deployed on INS Tabar, the ship’s commanding officer, P.K. Banerjee said.

Smart missile

This “smart missile” was also capable of striking from the sea, land targets that were located far away. Captain Banerjee said all new naval ships and those which were slated to be upgraded would be fitted with the latest Brahmos anti-ship missiles. The result of Indo-Russian partnership, the Brahmos was rated one of the most capable missiles in its class, he said.

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