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Before Modi’s trip, US war games with India, Japan may rile Beijing
PublishedSeptember 20, 2015 | Byadmin
SOURCE : The Telegraph
The “Rough Rider” is sailing into town next month. Keep watching, China.
The US is sending its Nimitz-class, 100,000-tonne carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt – which answers to the radio call sign “Rough Rider” – to the Bay of Bengal for joint war games with Japan and India during the latest edition of the Malabar series of exercises.
The carrier’s deployment and the involvement of Japan immediately scale up the war games. But New Delhi is insistent that it is not entering into a military alliance against China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to visit the US next week. The USS Theodore Roosevelt currently heads a battle group in the Persian Gulf. Aircraft from its flight deck are launched to attack Islamic State targets.
This is the first time that the Malabar series is going trilateral, involving the navies of the US, India and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) and sharpening focus on the possibility of deeper cooperation. The JMSDF participated in the Malabar drill in Indian waters once earlier: in 2007, when the navies of Singapore and Australia too were involved.
That exercise, conducted on a Nato model, had riled China enough for Beijing to issue a demarche to New Delhi. Since then, the defence establishment under the UPA II’s A.K. Antony steadfastly rejected multilateral exercises involving the US in Indian waters.
Even the involvement of Japan this time is a political call. The chief of naval staff, Admiral Robin Dhowan, said as much earlier this year when both the US and Japan proposed the expansion of Malabar into a trilateral drill.
But New Delhi has so far stayed away from involving Australia in the Malabar series though the US has been in favour
of that too. Within the security establishment in New Delhi, there is a quarter that has warned that a four-nation war game would resurrect the spectre of an “Asian Nato”.
India’s navy is currently engaged with Australia’s in submarine-hunting exercises in the Bay of Bengal. This is the first “Ausindex” drill.
India’s navy had not expected the US to deploy an aircraft carrier for the Malabar exercises scheduled for mid-October. India too may deploy one of its two carriers for the Bay of Bengal games.
The deployment of the “Rough Rider” was confirmed by the US ambassador to India, Richard Verma, this week.
Speaking at the East West Center, an education and research institution in the US, Verma said: “In a few weeks the USS Theodore Roosevelt will visit the Indian Ocean to take part in the annual Malabar 2015 naval exercise, with the joint participation of the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force.”
Verma emphasised that India and the US were intensifying their military-to-military relations.
“We are looking to make significant contributions to India’s strategic capabilities, such as the anti-surface warfare capabilities of the Indian Navy’s submarine fleet. And I don’t need to remind you of the historic agreement to establish a joint working group on aircraft carrier technology,” Verma said.
“At some point in the next decade, India will launch its next generation of aircraft carrier and the United States will have played a direct role in its construction. I am pleased to report that India engages in more bilateral exercises with the United States than it does with any other country.”
PublishedSeptember 20, 2015 | Byadmin
SOURCE : The Telegraph
The “Rough Rider” is sailing into town next month. Keep watching, China.
The US is sending its Nimitz-class, 100,000-tonne carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt – which answers to the radio call sign “Rough Rider” – to the Bay of Bengal for joint war games with Japan and India during the latest edition of the Malabar series of exercises.
The carrier’s deployment and the involvement of Japan immediately scale up the war games. But New Delhi is insistent that it is not entering into a military alliance against China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to visit the US next week. The USS Theodore Roosevelt currently heads a battle group in the Persian Gulf. Aircraft from its flight deck are launched to attack Islamic State targets.
This is the first time that the Malabar series is going trilateral, involving the navies of the US, India and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) and sharpening focus on the possibility of deeper cooperation. The JMSDF participated in the Malabar drill in Indian waters once earlier: in 2007, when the navies of Singapore and Australia too were involved.
That exercise, conducted on a Nato model, had riled China enough for Beijing to issue a demarche to New Delhi. Since then, the defence establishment under the UPA II’s A.K. Antony steadfastly rejected multilateral exercises involving the US in Indian waters.
Even the involvement of Japan this time is a political call. The chief of naval staff, Admiral Robin Dhowan, said as much earlier this year when both the US and Japan proposed the expansion of Malabar into a trilateral drill.
But New Delhi has so far stayed away from involving Australia in the Malabar series though the US has been in favour
of that too. Within the security establishment in New Delhi, there is a quarter that has warned that a four-nation war game would resurrect the spectre of an “Asian Nato”.
India’s navy is currently engaged with Australia’s in submarine-hunting exercises in the Bay of Bengal. This is the first “Ausindex” drill.
India’s navy had not expected the US to deploy an aircraft carrier for the Malabar exercises scheduled for mid-October. India too may deploy one of its two carriers for the Bay of Bengal games.
The deployment of the “Rough Rider” was confirmed by the US ambassador to India, Richard Verma, this week.
Speaking at the East West Center, an education and research institution in the US, Verma said: “In a few weeks the USS Theodore Roosevelt will visit the Indian Ocean to take part in the annual Malabar 2015 naval exercise, with the joint participation of the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force.”
Verma emphasised that India and the US were intensifying their military-to-military relations.
“We are looking to make significant contributions to India’s strategic capabilities, such as the anti-surface warfare capabilities of the Indian Navy’s submarine fleet. And I don’t need to remind you of the historic agreement to establish a joint working group on aircraft carrier technology,” Verma said.
“At some point in the next decade, India will launch its next generation of aircraft carrier and the United States will have played a direct role in its construction. I am pleased to report that India engages in more bilateral exercises with the United States than it does with any other country.”
