India and Russia will conduct a joint naval exercise in the Sea of Japan under the ‘Indra’ series from July 17-19. The exercise is tasked with boosting cooperation and inter-operability between the two navies.
The Indian Navy is being represented by the INS Ranvijay destroyer, the INS Shivalik frigate and INS Shakti fleet tanker while Russia’s Pacific Fleet is represented by the Varyag guided-missile cruiser, the Admiral Vinogradov destroyer, the Peresvet and several auxiliary ships.
The leadership of the two navies will undertake planning and training for joint operations from July 14-17 and the active phase of the exercise will take place on July 17-19 in the Peter the Great Gulf in the Sea of Japan. During the exercise, the ships will conduct tactical maneuvering drills, artillery and missile firing drills, as well as helicopter deck-landing drills.
India and Russia have conducted seven large ground and naval drills since 2003. In 2005, the joint naval exercises were code-named Indra, a portmanteau of the participant countries’ names.