India, Singapore and Thailand holding SITMEX naval exercise

A trilateral naval exercise involving Singapore, India and Thailand is being conducted in the Indian Ocean from 15 to 16 November.

The Singapore-India-Thailand Maritime Exercise (SITMEX) 21 exercise is taking place in the Andaman Sea.

Key Highlights

• It features the Republic of Singapore Navy’s (RSN) Formidable-class frigate RSS Tenacious and the Royal Thai Navy’s (RTN) Khamrosin-class anti-submarine patrol craft HTMS Thayanchon.

• The Indian Navy is being represented by the Indian Naval Ship (INS) Karmuk missile corvette in the exercise. The RTN is hosting the two-day exercise, which is the third edition of SITMEX.

• SITMEX-21 will include a number of tactical training drills between the three navies such as naval manoeuvres and surface warfare exercises.

• According to the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD), the exercise is being conducted as a ‘non-contact, at sea only’ drill due to restrictions in place to contain the spread of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

• SITMEX has been held each year since 2019 to help improve maritime relationships and interoperability between the three countries.

SOURCE: The Hindu

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