Indian Naval Ship (INS) Talwar is participating in Exercise Cutlass Express 2021, which commenced on July 26 along the East Coast of Africa, to improve combined maritime law enforcement capacity and increase interoperability between the regional navies. The exercise will conclude on August 6.
The exercise is an annual maritime exercise conducted to promote national and regional maritime security in East Africa and the Western Indian Ocean, an official statement from the Ministry of Defence said.
The 2021 edition of the exercise involves the participation of 12 Eastern African countries, US, UK, India and various international organisations, like International Maritime Organisation (IMO), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Interpol, EurEuropean Union Naval Forc (EUNAVFOR), Critical Maritime Routes Indian Ocean (CRIMARIO) and EUCAP Somalia.
“The Indian Navy is participating in the exercise in a trainer role,” the statement said.
Indian Navy to undertake training of various countries’ contingents
As a part of the exercise, the Indian Navy, together with other partners, would undertake training of contingents from various participating countries in various fields across the spectrum of maritime security operations.
“Information sharing and information flow between various partner countries with respect to maritime domain awareness is also a key focus of the exercise and participation of India’s Information Fusion Centre Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) would contribute to achieving the same,” the statement said.
