- The exercise started in early January 2021 and is expected to end by the Third Week of February, 2021.
- The main objective of the exercise is to validate the Navy’s Offensive-Defence capabilities, safeguarding national interests in the Maritime domain and promoting stability and peace in the IOR.
- It will help in honing the warfighting skills of the force and help in keeping with the theme of being a ‘Combat Ready, Credible and Cohesive Force’.
- The conduct of TROPEX-21 is being supervised by Naval Headquarters with participation from all 3 Commands of Indian Navy & the Tri-Services Command headquartered at Port Blair.
3 Phases of the Exercise:
TROPEX 21 is being conducted in 3 phases. It is being done phases to test Indian Navy’s transition from peacetime to hostilities.
Phase I – Coastal Defence Exercise ‘Sea Vigil’:
The 2nd Edition of the Biennial Pan-India, Largest Coastal Defence Exercise ‘Sea Vigil-21’ coordinated by Indian Navy took place from January 12-13, 2021 along the entire 7516 Km coastline of India.
- Indian Air Force, Indian Coast Guard (ICG), National Security Guard (NSG), Border Security Force (BSF), oil handling agencies & airports participated in the exercise.
- The exercise was conducted to assess the Strengths and Weaknesses of India’s Coastal Defence & Maritime Security.
Phase II – Tri-Service Joint Amphibious Exercise – AMPHEX-21:
Sea Vigil-21 was followed by the Tri-Service Joint Amphibious Exercise – ‘AMPHEX-21’
- It took place from January 21-25, 2021 in the Andaman and Nicobar group of Islands.
- Defence Exercise ‘KAVACH’ for defence of Andaman & Nicobar Islands was also a part of AMPHEX-21 exercise.
- The main objective of the exercise was to validate India’s capabilities to safeguard the territorial integrity of Island Territories and increase cooperation and joint warfighting capabilities amongst the 3 services.
Phase III – Weapon Workup Phase of TROPEX:
The 3rd Phase Weapon Workup Phase of TROPEX has concluded recently.
- During the phase ‘on-target’ ordnance deliveries which included missiles, torpedoes and rockets from frontline warships, aircraft and submarines were demonstrated.
- On January 31, 2021, Indian Navy’s long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft, Ilyushin 38SD successfully fired ‘Combat Kh35E’ anti-ship missile as part of TROPEX-21
- The main objective of the phase was to reaffirm the Navy’s ability to carry out long range maritime strikes in the IOR.
Recent Related News:
November 21, 2020, Phase 2 of the 24th Edition of the 4-nation Naval Exercise Malabar 2020 took place in the Arabian Sea from November 17-20, 2020. It was the First time since 2007, that all the QUAD Countries (India, United States, Japan, Australia) are participating in the Malabar Naval Exercise.
About Indian Navy:
Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) – Admiral Karambir Singh
Integrated Headquarters MoD (Navy) – New Delhi
