Current Affairs Date: 13 June 2023

⇒ TROPEX (TROPEX-23), the Indian Navy’s major Operational level exercise for the year 2023, was conducted across the expanse of Indian Ocean Region (IOR) over a duration of four months from November 2022 to March 2023.

• • Indian Navy’s major maritime exercise TROPEX 23 culminated in the Arabian Sea in the second week of March 2023.

» TROPEX is an inter-service military exercise which started in 2005, the exercise was conducted annually till 2015. Held biennially since 2015.

• • This operational level exercise is conducted biennially and witnesses’ participation not only by all Indian Navy units but also of Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Coast Guard assets.

Key Points:

• • As part of the exercise, all surface combatants of the Indian Navy including Destroyers, Frigates, Corvettes as well as submarines and aircraft were put through complex maritime operational deployments to validate and refine the Navy’s Concept of Operations including operational logistics and interoperability with other Services.
  • The exercise was conducted in different phases, both in harbour and at sea, encompassing various facets of combat operations, including live weapon firings.
  • The overall exercise construct included Coastal Defence exercise Sea Vigil and the Amphibious Exercise AMPHEX. Together, these exercises also witnessed significant participation from the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force and the Coast Guard.
  • Set in the Indian Ocean including the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, the theatre of operations for the exercise extended approximately 4300nm from North to South upto 35deg South Latitude and 5000nm from Persian Gulf in the West to North Australia coast in the East. The whole area was spanning an area of over 21 million square nautical miles.
  • TROPEX 23 witnessed participation of approximately 70 Indian Navy ships, six submarines and over 75 aircraft.

» As part of the final Joint Phase, the Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh spent a day at sea onboard the newly commissioned Indigenous Aircraft Carrier Vikrant on 06 March 2023.

• • He reviewed the Indian Navy’s operational preparedness and material readiness wherein the Navy demonstrated operational manoeuvers and various facets of combat operations, including deck operations of indigenous LCA and live weapon firings.

» The maritime exercise also facilitates operational level interaction with the Indian Army, Indian Air Force and the Coast Guard, which further strengthens interoperability and joint operations in a complex environment.