By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, NOV 23, 2020: THE Indian Navy is scheduled to host naval drills with Singapore in the Andaman Sea from today with a focus on enhancing mutual inter-operability and imbibing best practices from each.

The 27th edition of India - Singapore Bilateral Maritime Exercise (SIMBEX-20) will be held from 23 to 25 November and comes on the heels of the trilateral drills conducted by India, Singapore and Thailand.

“The scope and complexity of these exercises has increased steadily over the past two decades to include advanced naval drills covering a wide spectrum of maritime operations”, said Indian Navy spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal.

The Indian Navy assets participating in the exercises include destroyer INS Rana with the integral Chetak helicopters, corvettes INS Kamorta and INS Karmuk, submarine INS Sindhuraj and the P-8I maritime reconnaissance aircraft.

Singapore Navy will be represented by the frigates RSS Intrepid and RSS Steadfast with the integral S70B helicopters, and the landing ship RSS Endurance.

“SIMBEX-20 will witness the two friendly navies participate in advanced surface, anti-air warfare and anti-submarine warfare exercises including weapon firings, over three days of intensive joint operations at sea”, the Indian Navy said, adding that the drills will be ‘non-contact, at sea only’ exercise in view of COVID-19 pandemic.

The exercise also highlights the commitment of the two navies to a rules-based international order.

In the past weeks, the Indian Navy also wrapped up the 2nd edition of the SITMEX-20 drill with Singaporean and Thai counterparts in the Andaman Sea, preceded by the Malabar exercise in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea with the U.S., Japan and Australia.