IN NEWS: EXERCISE MALABAR 2025 AT GUAM
Analysis
- Indian Naval Ship (INS) Sahyadri is participating in Exercise Malabar-2025, being held at Guam in the Northern Pacific.
- The exercise reinforces India’s strategic partnership with other participating navies and demonstrates its commitment to ensuring regional maritime security.
- The event underscores the objective of enhancing interoperability, improving coordination, and strengthening joint operational capabilities among participating nations.
- INS Sahyadri, an indigenously designed and built Guided Missile Stealth Frigate, represents India’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative in the defence sector.
- The exercise consists of two main phases:
- Harbour Phase: Includes operational planning, communication alignment, familiarisation visits, and sports interactions among the naval forces.
- Sea Phase: Focuses on joint fleet operations, anti-submarine warfare, gunnery drills, and flying operations, showcasing advanced multilateral naval coordination.
Static Part / Background
- Exercise Malabar is an annual multilateral naval exercise that began as a bilateral exercise between India and the United States in 1992.
- Over time, it has expanded to include Japan and Australia, forming the Quad countries.
- The exercise aims to ensure freedom of navigation, maritime domain awareness, and security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.
- Guam is a U.S. territory located in the Western Pacific and holds strategic importance for regional maritime operations.
- INS Sahyadri (F49) is part of the Shivalik-class frigates, equipped with state-of-the-art stealth features and advanced weapon systems for multi-role operations.
Updated – 09 Nov 2025 ; 06:24 PM | PIB