Posted on 07/13/2007 7:47:36 AM PDT by Srirangan
Twenty warships from five countries, including three aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and fighters, will assemble in the Bay of Bengal in September for a major naval exercise to be hosted by India.
The other countries taking part in the wargame are the US, Japan, Australia and Singapore and the warships that will be fielded for it include two American nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, USS Nimitz and Kitty Hawk, defence ministry officials here said today.
Besides the carriers with their full complement of 80 to 100 aircraft, the exercise codenamed Malabar-07 will feature missile destroyers, stealth frigates, nuclear and conventional submarines and tankers. The five-day manoeuvres will also see shore-based Jaguar deep penetration strike aircraft of the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy's Sea Harrier jets and Sea King helicopters from the INS Viraat in action.
Last month's joint manoeuvres by Indian, US and Japanese warships off the Japanese coast in the Pacific had evoked a strong reaction from China. Beijing issued a demarche to the three nations, demanding to know the reason for them undertaking such a wargame close to Chinese territory.
(Excerpt) Read more at india-defence.com ...
That the Indian or Japanese navy can challenge the Chicoms alone, without our help, is a good sign we have a stable east asia.
When all these forces are joined and coordinated, simply unchallenged.
The usual Air Force exercises, international, began yesterday in Fairbanks. 1500 attendees, some from countries that would raise eyebrows on FR.
Interestingly, I had a poster (who was a groundpounder...a highly esteemed personage in my opinion) rail against the US Navy saying it should be scrapped, that they don’t do anything other than transport the US Marines anyway and that the US Marines can fly to wherever they go.
As a Navy veteran, I took umbrage at that statement. Personally, I have only the highest esteem for the infantry, and I had to remind the poster that, until they can find a way to get all manner of things from oil, helicopters, tanks and artillery all the way down to bullets and MREs to the battlefront without touching the water, then we will need a Navy to keep those sea lanes open.
Any enemy we face is surely going to understand that. It is fashionable amongst the one-dimensional types to think they can save money by drawing down the Navy. Then, when the next war comes and our troops overseas are stranded in a hotspot as they were in Bataan, the handwringing and finger-pointing will begin.
We take Air Power and Sea Power SO much for granted. If people would remember how horrible our casualties were at a time when we didn’t have those things, they wouldn’t be so eager.
The Royal New Zealand Navy will not be there too?
Your posting made me curious about the New Zealand Navy; from looking at their webpage, it appears to be a bit on the smallish side:
The current fleet comprises two Anzac- class frigates, HMNZ Ships TE KAHA and TE MANA, a fleet replenishment ship (tanker) HMNZS ENDEAVOUR and various auxiliary ships for hydrographic survey, diving support and coastal patrol.
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