Warships of the Eastern Fleet participated in the bilateral naval exercise SIMBEX with the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) from 20 – 26 May 15. As part of the deployment, two Indian warships, INS Ranvir (a Guided Missile Destroyer) commanded by Captain Jaswinder Singh and INS Shakti (a sophisticated Fleet Tanker and Support Ship) commanded by Captain Vikram Menon, have arrived at Jakarta on a four day visit.
The visit is aimed at further strengthening its already robust bilateral ties between the two countries and fostering inter-operability between the navies of these two friendly nations.
Both navies already conduct regular coordinated patrols on their IMBL and an annual bilateral exercise is scheduled to commence between both navies this year.
During the stay in harbour, various activities such as official calls, professional interaction between personnel of both the navies, reception onboard and ship visits have been planned.
On departure, the ships will exercise with Indonesian Navy for improving interoperability in Maritime Operations and Search and Rescue.
These ships along with INS Satpura (an indigenously built Guided Missile Stealth Frigate) and INS Kamorta (an indigenously built Anti Submarine Corvette) are on a two-month long deployment. During this deployment, the ships have visited Singapore and would also visit Freemantle (Australia), Kuantan (Malaysia), Sattahip (Thailand) and Sihanoukville (Cambodia).
Speaking at the reception on board INS Shakti, Vice Admiral Satish Soni thanked Indonesian Navy for hosting them. He also informed that navies of two countries are exploring the areas where they can further cooperate.
Addressing the gathering which comprised largely of senior Indian and Indonesian Naval officers, H.E. Mr. Gurjit Singh, Ambassador of India to Indonesia and Timor Leste, said that the navies of two countries are committed to safeguard the sea lanes and check piracy to ensure free trade for all countries of the region.
The Indian ships will be leaving Jakarta on 4th June 2015.
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2015
