Navies of India, Australia, Japan, US, France and UK to participate in Exercise La Perouse

New Delhi [India], March 13 (ANI): Personnel, ships and integral helicopters of the Royal Australian Navy, French Navy, Indian Navy, Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force, Royal Navy and the United States Navy will participate in Exercise La Perouse. The third edition of the multilateral exercise La Perouse will be conducted in the Indian Ocean Region from March 13-14.

The biennial exercise La Perouse is conducted by the French Navy and aims to enhance maritime domain awareness and optimise maritime coordination amongst the participating navies in the Indo-Pacific region, the Ministry of Defence said in a press release.

The two-day exercise provides an opportunity for like-minded navies to develop closer links in planning, coordination and information sharing for seamless maritime operations, according to the press release. Exercise La Perouse will include complex and advanced naval operations, including surface warfare, anti-air warfare, air defence exercises, cross-deck landings and tactical manoeuvres.

Indian Navy’s indigenously built guided missile frigate INS Sahyadri and fleet tanker INS Jyoti will participate in the third edition of the multilateral exercise, according to the press release. Participation of the Indian Navy in the exercise demonstrates the high levels of synergy, coordination and inter-operability between the friendly navies, and their commitment to a rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific region.

Earlier, the Indian Navy’s indigenously built guided missile frigate, INS Sahyadri participated in a Maritime Partnership Exercise (MPX) with French Navy (FN) ships FS Dixmude, a Mistral Class Amphibious Assault Ship and FS La Fayette, a La Fayette Class Frigate, in the Arabian Sea. The partnership exercise was conducted on March 10-11.

According to the Ministry of Defence, the exercise witnessed a wide spectrum of evolutions at sea which included cross-deck landings, boarding exercises and seamanship evolutions. The seamless conduct of the exercise reaffirmed the interoperability and high level of cooperation between the two navies.