India-Japan naval exercise

In a signal of deepening defence ties between India and Japan, navies of the two nations will conduct their first-ever bilateral exercise later this week off the coast of Japan.
A flotilla of four Indian Naval warships that is presently in an exercise with the South Korean Navy will be directed towards Japan on June 9 and 10, sources in the Ministry of Defence said.
In 2007, Naval exercises with Japan were held under the trilateral ‘Malabar’ series along with the United States. It led to China raising objections, saying that was anti-China grouping. India, possibly, not wanting to antagonise China, then onward insisted that it would exercise only in bilateral format.
India and Japan, both not on the best of terms with China, have clearly moved closer to each other by cementing military ties. The decision to have a first-ever bilateral exercise involving Naval warships was taken last November during Defence Minister AK Antony’s Japan visit.
Indian warships in the exercise will be stealth frigate INS Shivalik, destroyer INS Rana, Missile Corvette INS Karmuk and Tanker and Replenishment Ship INS Shakti. The exercise is being undertaken by the Navy as part of the Long Range Overseas Deployment (LROD) of its fleet.
In return for the latest exercise, the Indian Navy will host “passage exercises” whenever Japanese warships travel through the region on the way up or down from anti-piracy deployment later this year. Last October, two ships from Japan were in Kochi on their way to the Gulf of Aden.
Till January this year, India and Japan were running independent anti-piracy missions in the Gulf of Aden. It is now that the two nations along with China cooperate in scheduling of their warships accompanying merchant vessels through piracy-infested waters.