Exercise La Perouse 2023: Navies of India, Australia, US, UK, France and Japan participate

The two-day multi-lateral maritime exercise ‘La Pérouse’, involving the participation of personnel, ships and integral helicopters of Royal Australian Navy, French Navy, Indian Navy, Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force, Royal Navy and the United States Navy, kick-started in the Indian Ocean Region on March 13.

“The third edition of the multilateral exercise La Perouse is scheduled to be conducted in the Indian Ocean Region from 13 to 14 March 2023," the Ministry of Defence said in a press release.

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 release stated.

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.

"The exercise 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.

 

Image courtesy: ANI