NEW DELHI: The Quad leaders’ summit that was to be hosted by India may no longer be taking place this year, but navies of the four countries are set to kick off their top-notch Malabar exercise off Guam in western Pacific Ocean from Monday. Indian guided-missile stealth frigate INS Sahyadri has joined the American Aegis guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald, Australian Anzac-class frigate HMAS Ballarat and Japanese helicopter destroyer JS Hyuga at Guam, a strategic US military base, for the intense combat maneuvers from Nov 10 to 18. However, the ‘Cope India’ air combat exercise between India and the US that was slated to be held in Gwalior from Monday, with Japan and Australia as observers, has been deferred. The US was to deploy F-35 fifth-generation stealth fighters and B-1 Lancer supersonic heavy bombers for the exercise. Instead, it has sent a solitary B-1 aircraft for “bomber integration sorties” with the IAF. This will be the 29th edition of the Malabar exercise, which began as a bilateral endeavor between India and the US in 1992 but includes all Quad countries now. “INS Sahyadri’s participation reaffirms India’s enduring partnership and its commitment to strengthening coordination, enhancing interoperability and demonstrating a collective resolve to safeguard regional security,” Indian Navy said Sunday. The exercise comes amid Trump administration indicating its long-standing Indo-Pacific strategy to counter an aggressive and expansionist China is no longer a top priority. India, Australia and Japan, however, remain concerned about China’s continuing ‘Grey Zone’ tactics to push its vexatious territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific, be it against its neighbors in South and East China Seas or the Line of Actual Control with India. The ‘harbour phase’ of the Malabar on Nov 10-12 will feature operational planning and discussions, alignment on communication protocols, familiarization visits between participating nations and sports fixtures, Navy said. The ‘sea phase’ from Nov 13 to 17 will see the warships and aircraft taking part in drills focusing on joint fleet operations, anti-submarine warfare, gunnery serials and flying operations, it added.
