This week marked the conclusion of the Indian Navy’s major operational-level exercise TROPEX for the year 2023, which took place throughout the vast Indian Ocean over the course of four months from November 2022 to March 2023. The Indian Army, Indian Air Force, and Coast Guard all played a vital role in the entire exercise, which the Navy stated comprised the amphibious exercise AMPHEX and the coastal defence exercise Sea Vigil.
“Set in the Indian Ocean including the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The theatre of operations for the exercise extended 4,300 nm from North to South, up to 35 degee South Latitude. And 5,000 nm from the Persian Gulf in the West to North Australia coast in the East, spanning an area of over 21 million square nautical miles,” the Navy said in a statement. TROPEX-23 witnessed the participation of approximately 70 Indian Navy ships, six submarines and over 75 aircraft.
The Indian Navy’s rigorous operational phase, which started in November 2022, comes to a close with the conclusion of TROPEX-23. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh spent a day at sea onboard the recently commissioned indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant on March 6. During this time, he reviewed the Navy’s operational readiness and was shown operational manoeuvrings. Also inspect various aspects of combat operations, including live weapon firings and deck operations of indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).