US-India joint Naval drill is a message to China: US Commander
Shares
US commander, who asked not to be named, said the India US Joint Naval exercise would have a significant impact on the Chinese. "They will know that we are standing together and that it is better to stand together," he said.
Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Eastern Naval Command, Vice Admiral H C S Bisht declared the exercise open, describing it as a joint attempt to address common challenges and address shared threats.
He refused, however, to acknowledge outright that the choice of ships and the venue of the exercise had anything to do with presence of Chinese ships or Indian threat perception in the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean.
Three aircraft carriers — the USS Nimitz of the US Navy, the INS Vikramaditya of the Indian Navy and the JS Izumo of the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force — will take part in Malabar 2017.
Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Eastern Naval Command, Vice Admiral H C S Bisht declared the exercise open, describing it as a joint attempt to address common challenges and address shared threats.
He refused, however, to acknowledge outright that the choice of ships and the venue of the exercise had anything to do with presence of Chinese ships or Indian threat perception in the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean.
Three aircraft carriers — the USS Nimitz of the US Navy, the INS Vikramaditya of the Indian Navy and the JS Izumo of the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force — will take part in Malabar 2017.
