India: In a first, Saudi Naval cadets train on-board Indian Navy ships

In a significant step aimed at enhancing cooperation between the Indian Navy and the Royal Saudi Naval Force, cadets from the latter are in India for 24 days of afloat training. 55 cadets and five Directing Staff from the King Fahd Naval Academy, Saudi Arabia arrived this week in Kochi, the headquarters of India's Southern Naval Command, as part of their first-ever training with the Indian Navy.

The visitors from the friendly-foreign Navy arrived on board the Indian Navy's First Training Squadron(1TS) ships INS Tir and INS Sujata. During their stay in India, they will be undergoing hands-on training on various aspects of seamanship, navigation, firefighting and emergency drills, onboard the ships.

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To get a first-hand feel of life on-board a sailing ship, the cadets would also sail onboard Sail Training Ship INS Sudarshini. The First Training Squadron of the Indian Navy are the first ships that newly-commissioned Naval officers train on, to gain further exposure to life at sea.

As the Training Command of the Indian Navy, the Southern Naval Command in Kochi is home to various training establishments of the maritime force- Gunnery School INS Dronacharya, Naval Institute of Aeronautical Technology, Diving School, Anti-Submarine Warfare School, School for Naval Aviation etc. In addition to these, there are Naval Training facilities that are spread across the length of the country.

Indian Naval Academy, the facility that offers ab-initio training for Indian Naval Officers is also situated in Kerala, at Ezhimala. As part of India's military diplomacy initiatives towards friendly-foreign nations, the Indian Naval Academy, the largest such facility in Asia, offers ab-initio training for cadets from a host of foreign navies.

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