First phase of the Malabar 2020 joint naval exercise has been conducted recently.
What is Malabar Exercise?
It is a multilateral naval exercise that includes simulated war games and combat manoeuvres.
It started in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between the Indian and US navies. Australia Joined it in 2007 and Japan joined in 2015.
Last year it was held in early September off the coast of Japan.
Malabar 2020
This year’s Malabar Exercise has been planned on a “non-contact-at sea” format keeping Covid-19 protocols in mind.
This year the exercise will be held in two phases, the first from Tuesday off the coast near Visakhapatnam and the second in the Arabian Sea in mid-November.
For the first time in over a decade, the exercise will see the participation of all four Quad countries.
It work on the principal of upholding the rules-based international order, respecting the rule of law and freedom of navigation in the international seas and upholding the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states are essential.
QUAD
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD, also known as the Quad) is an informal strategic forum between the United States, Japan, Australia and India.
