April 5, 2019

Australian Armada visits India - mainly Anti-Submarine AUSINDEX-19

Chinese nuclear and conventional submarines are spending more time in the Indian Ocean. To "welcome" them Australia and India are stepping up anti-submarine warfare (ASW) exercises.

Four Royal Australian Navy (RAN) ships and one submarine arrived at India’s major naval base East, Visakhapatnam, on April 2, 2019. This was to take part in AUSINDEX-19. From April 7 to 11, 2019 the RAN and Indian forces will mainly participate in ASW exercises in the Bay of Bengal. In a couple of years’ time another AUSINDEX “21” will likely be hosted by Australia.
HMAS Collins drying off before passage to India (Photo courtesy shipspotting).
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The Australian vessels participating are: the landing helicopter dock HMAS Canberra (L02); the frigates HMAS Newcastle (FFG 06) and HMAS Parramatta (FFH 154); replenishment oiler HMAS Success (OR 304);and submarine HMAS Collins (SSG 73, launched in 1993).
The Australian aviation element will include MRH-90 Taipan and MH-60R Seahawk ‘Romeo’ helicopters on the RAN vessels, along with a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft (MPA).


The Indian Navy is represented by the: destroyer INS Ranvijay (D55); frigate INS Sahyadri (F49); and corvettes INS Kora (P61) and INS Kiltan (P30). Also participating is the Sindhughosh-Kilo class conventional submarine INS Sindhukirti (S61) (youtube above).
Satellite imagery of a Dornier MPA - spooked by Spitfires.
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Helicopters on the Indian vessels will include Sea King Mk 42B and Chetak. Indian land based aircraft will include Dornier and P-8I “Neptune” MPAs and Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers.
AUSINDEX-19 features the greatest variety and number of Australian and Indian vessels and aircraft/helicopters of the AUSINDEX exercises to date, in order to monitor Chinese submarine activities in the Indian Ocean.

Sources include https://defpost.com/royal-australian-navy-ships-submarine-arrive-at-visakhapatnam-india-to-participate-in-exercise-ausindex-19/

Pete

4 comments:

GhalibKabir said...

India is apparently getting 24 MH-60R ASW helos equipped with the Mk 54 and also NSM or the Naval Strike Missile by Kongsberg with a range of 100 nm

https://www.dsca.mil/major-arms-sales/india-mh-60r-multi-mission-helicopters

Hopefully they can conclude this soon and get the helos soon along with the 4 new P-8s

meanwhile the pakistanis are upgrading their aging Agostas

https://quwa.org/2019/03/15/pakistan-adds-to-agosta-90b-submarine-upgrade-program-2/

David Candy said...

Is that really a satellite image from WW2?

Pete said...

Hi David Candy

Well no.

In truth it is imagery from one of Stalin's RQ-4 Global Hawks.

Cheers

Pete

Pete said...

Hi GhalibKabir

Thanks for the info on India's ongoing purchase of 24 MH-60R ASW helicopters to replace the old Sea Kings https://www.dsca.mil/major-arms-sales/india-mh-60r-multi-mission-helicopters. It seems the alternative of Russian helicopters wasn't chosen.

And also thanks for drawing my attention to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency https://www.dsca.mil/about-us/mission-vison-values which I was unaware of.

Interesting Turkey is upgrading the combat systems of Pakistan's 3 aging Agosta 90Bs. https://quwa.org/2019/03/15/pakistan-adds-to-agosta-90b-submarine-upgrade-program-2/

Upgrades since 2016 puts Pakistan in a good position to transfer Turkish, European and US combat system technology to China!

Regards

Pete