Five-nation naval exercise begins in Bay of Bengal

New Delhi, Sep 4 (UNI) The biggest-ever venture in the annual 'Malabar' series of Indo-US naval exercises -- this year also including contingents from Japan, Australia and Singapore -- began in the Bay of Bengal today.

Malabar-07 -- one of the biggest-ever peacetime concentrations featuring 26 warships from the five navies -- aims at testing the participants' capabilities in a multi-threat environment as well as honing measures to tackle piracy and marine terrorism.

''This is one of the biggest ever peacetime joint military exercises, developing inter-operability and coordination skills between the participating navies,'' highly-placed naval sources said.

The participating elements include three aircraft carriers -- India's INS Viraat and the US Navy's second-longest-serving ship (but soon to be decommissioned) 'Kitty Hawk' and the nuclear-powered USS Nimitz, whose recent port visit to Chennai had strirred a controversy.

Besides the three carriers with their full complement of onboard aircraft, the exercise, in the international waters between Visakhapatnam and the Andaman archipelago, sees missile destroyers including Indian Navy's Delhi and Kashin Class, guided missile frigates of the Godavari and Brahmaputra Class, and nuclear (US Navy's SSN Chicago) and conventional submarines, including Indian Navy's HDW class and tankers.

The five-day manoeuvres will also see shore-based Jaguar deep penetration strike aircraft of the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy's Sea Harrier jets and Sea King helicopters from the INS Viraat in action.

The exercise will conclude with a mock 'battle', involving anti-piracy, anti-marine terrorism, air defence, and surveillance and interception elements. Though no live ammunition would be used but missile, submarine and air tactics would be simulated and recorded in the manoeuvres.

A lot of planning and bilateral visits had been behind the exercise. Australian Defence Minister Brendan Nelson set out the policy framework of defence collaboration, during a visit to New Delhi in July. Next month, Australian Navy Chief Admiral Russell Shalders, visited India to work out the mechanics of collaboration and the details of the exercises.

This was followed by the state visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, during which the two sides extensively discussed security matters. Even before the Japanese Premier's Departure, Japanese Defence Minister Yoriko Koike and the Commander of US Pacific Command Admiral Timothy Keating arrived to finalise details of defence co-operation and Malabar 07-02.

However, the exercise has stirred a lot of controversy -- both internal and external.

China had reacted strongly to the exercise, expressing its concerns, both to India and Japan. Joint manoeuvres by Indian, US and Japanese warships off the Japanese coast in the Pacific in June had also evoked a strong reaction from Beijing, which had issued a demarche to the three nations demanding to know the reason for their undertaking such a wargame close to the Chinese territory.

In India, the Left partiers, which support the UPA government, had vociferously protested against the exercises, alleging it was part of the US' ''imperialistic design''.

They had prepared an elaborate system of demonstrations along the Eastern coast, with two 'jathas' or campaigns flagged off, one from Chennai by CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat and another from Kolkata by party veteran Jyoti Basu. Both will meet at Visakhapatnam on Saturday where a protest rally will be held.

UNI