Navies of India and Bangladesh to participate in bilateral drill

The navies of India and Bangladesh will participate for the first time in a bilateral exercise at Visakhapatnam from October 12 to 16, the Navy said on Friday. The exercise would also include air familiarisation of Bangladesh Navy aircrew and a 10-day training exercise between Indian Navy Marine Commandos and BN SWADS, it said. The second edition of the Indian Navy (IN) and the Bangladesh Navy (BN) Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) commenced in the northern part of Bay of Bengal on Thursday. The drill will take place a week after Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India.

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CORPAT naval exercise

INS Ranvijay, a guided-missile destroyer and INS Kuthar, an ingeniously built missile Corvette are participating in the CORPAT along with BNS Ali Haider, a Type 053 frigate and BNS Shadinota, a Type 056 stealth guided missile corvette.

"The two-day CORPAT will be followed by the maiden edition of IN-BN Bilateral Exercise at Visakhapatnam from October 12 to 16," the Navy said in a statement.

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The IN-BN CORPAT, which commenced last year, is aimed at upgrading to a bilateral exercise with the navies engaging in seamanship evolutions, flying exercises with integral helicopters and maritime patrol aircraft at sea. Additionally, exercises entailing the development of mutual communication and sharing of best practices would also be undertaken, adding a new dimension to the Indo-Bangladesh maritime relations, the Navy said.

With a common territorial boundary of over 4,000 kilometres and a maritime boundary, the navies of both the countries aim to practice and hone their mutual cooperation whilst patrolling near the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) during the current edition of CORPAT, it added. The sea phase would be followed by harbour phase that would include professional interaction between the navies, visits to the Indian Naval training and maintenance facilities at Visakhapatnam.

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INS Khanderi

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh commissioned India's second Scorpene-class submarine INS Khanderi into service in Mumbai on September 28. The submarine possesses superior stealth and other major combat capabilities. The Defence Minister also launched INS Nilgiri, the first ship of the P-17A frigates, along with an aircraft carrier drydock. Vice Admiral G Ashok Kumar, the vice chief of the Navy had asserted that with the commissioning of 'Khanderi' and launch of 'Nilgiri', the combat potential of Indian Navy will "go up many folds". He had added that the aircraft carrier drydock, housed within the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai, is capable of docking India's largest ship INS Vikramaditya and has the ability to maintain ships for decades to come.

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