Warships from the Indian Navy, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and United States Navy departed US Fleet Activities Sasebo, June 14, to conduct the at-sea phase of exercise Malabar 2016 in Philippine Sea. The trilateral maritime exercise, Malabar, is designed to enhance dynamic cooperation between India, Japan, and US maritime forces in the Indo-Asia-Pacific.
The John C. Stennis Strike Group Public Affairs said ships will spend the at-sea phase of Malabar in the Philippine Sea to advance the participating nations’ military-to-military coordination and capacity to plan and execute tactical operations in a multinational environment.
“At its core, originally, Exercise Malabar was started [in 1992] as a bilateral exercise between the Indian Navy and the U.S.,” said Captain Jason Gilbert, US Naval attaché to India. “The Japanese became a permanent partner in 2015, and we are now starting to see the benefits of Malabar being a trilateral exercise.”
According to US Navy’s Task Force 70, the at-sea portions include liaison officer professional exchanges and embarks; a photo exercise; submarine familiarization; high-value unit defense; air defense exercises; medical evacuation drills; surface warfare exercises; communications exercises; search and rescue exercises; helicopter cross-deck evolutions; underway replenishments; gunnery exercises; VBSS exercises; and anti-submarine warfare.
US Navy assets joing Malabar 2016 include the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) with embarked Carrier Air Wing 9, the guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG 53) and guided-missile destroyers USS Stockdale (DDG 106), USS William P. Lawrence (DDG 110) and USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93); a P-8A Poseidon aircraft; and a Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine.