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
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
ReplyDeletehttps://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/
Is that really a satellite image from WW2?
ReplyDeleteHi David Candy
ReplyDeleteWell no.
In truth it is imagery from one of Stalin's RQ-4 Global Hawks.
Cheers
Pete
Hi GhalibKabir
ReplyDeleteThanks 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