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| Image: Flickr User - Commander, U.S. 7th Fleet |
By Ankit Panda
PACIFIC OCEAN (April 10, 2011) – The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) and ships from Ronald Reagan Strike Group transit the Pacific Ocean in a nine ship formation with the Indian navy marking the conclusion of the exercise Malabar 2011. Malabar is a bilateral coordination with the Indian navy. Ronald Reagan is currently operating in the Western Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dylan McCord) >>
Japan could become a permanent participant in the U.S.-India-led Malabar naval exercises.
Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Forces (MSDF) will likely be a permanent participant in the U.S.-India-led Malabar naval exercise going forward, according to a report by the Yomiuri Shimbun. As Prashanth Parameswaran noted in these pages recently, the MSDF will return to the Malabar exercise this year in October, which will take place in the Bay of Bengal, off the Indian coast. This will be the first time the MSDF will have returned to participate in Malabar in the Bay of Bengal—it first did so in 2007 in a larger exercise which comprised the navies of Australia, Singapore in addition to the U.S. and Indian navies. Malabar began as an annual bilateral naval exercise in 1992 and usually alternates between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.
In addition to Malabar 2007, Japan participated in the exercise’s 2009 and 2014 iterations. Its involvement in Malabar 2015 marks the first time Japan has participated in the exercises in two consecutive years. Japan’s increasing participation comes amid a general strategic convergence between India and Japan, and a reassessment of the U.S.-Japan defense guidelines spurred by reforms pursued by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Japan and India, while not allies, regard each other as strategic global partners. Starting in late 2013, the Japan-India Maritime Exercise (JIMEX) formalized regular bilateral naval exercises between New Delhi and Tokyo; the first iteration of that exercise was held in the Bay of Bengal in December 2013.
Read the full story at The Diplomat