Thursday, September 29 2005 20:33 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Vasco Da Gama: The Indian and US navies today (Sept 29, 2005) began the second phase of Malabar-05 joint exercise in the Arabian Sea, with a series of manoeuvres aimed at building up confidence and inter-operability.

The exercise was participated by Indian naval aircraft carrier, INS Viraat, guided missile destroyer INS Mysore, and its fuel replenishment tanker, INS Aditya besides submarine, INS Shankul, while the US navy participated in the form of its guided missile destroyer, USS Chafee.

The vessels from both navies got engaged in search and rescue operations, submarine rescue, mid-sea refuelling and other tactical exercises.

At the rise of the sun, all the vessels sailed deep in the sea where they first joined in several strategic formations before engaging into joint tasks. Naval Chetak helicopters later landed on USS Chafee while the US strike helicopters SH-60 landed on INS Viraat.

The highlight of the event, however, was the mid-sea refuelling exercise in which Indian naval oil supply vessel INS Aditya performed the difficult task of going into simultaneous formations with INS Mysore and USS Chafee to help them replenishing their fuel stocks.

This was an important exercise for the two navies since refuelling mid-sea is a difficult task, particularly in a war and the tanker and the vessel could prove sitting ducks for the enemy, a senior Indian naval official told sources here.