Indian Navy hosts 27 nations in major Kochi maritime security exercise
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Indian Navy hosts 27 nations in major Kochi maritime security exercise")
Photograph: (WION)
The Indian Navy hosted 276 personnel from 27 countries in Kochi for Operation Southern Readiness 26-2, a four-day maritime security exercise focused on strengthening naval cooperation, training and interoperability against shared threats at sea.
Navies from 27 countries have completed a major international maritime security exercise in southern India, hailing it as a practical success in building cooperation against threats at sea. Operation Southern Readiness 26-2, a four-day programme hosted by the Indian Navy in Kochi, ended on Thursday with participants praising the high-standard training and India's modern facilities.
The exercise, run under the Indian Navy-led Combined Task Force 154 (CTF-154) in partnership with the 47-nation Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), brought together 276 personnel from around the world, supported by 76 facilitators and experts from four international organisations.
Its aim was clear and urgent: to improve readiness and interoperability so that partner navies can better tackle shared challenges such as drug trafficking, piracy, irregular migration and other maritime threats.
CTF-154 is the CMF's dedicated training task force. Set up in 2023, it focuses on capacity-building rather than patrols. It organises multinational courses on five key areas: maritime domain awareness (understanding what is happening at sea in real time), maritime law, interdiction operations, search-and-rescue, and leadership development. In February this year, India became the first nation from the region to command the task force, with Commodore Milind M Mokashi taking charge in Bahrain.
Rear Admiral Deepak Singhal, Chief Staff Officer (Training) at Southern Naval Command, inaugurated the exercise on 20 July. "It is a great enabler for India's SAGAR and MAHASAGAR initiatives," he said. "It has brought together personnel from 27 nations to train along with us, exchange with us. It provides a platform to make seas, oceans safer."
Commodore Mokashi said hosting the event in India demonstrated the country's commitment. "India shared its best practices [and] training infrastructure with partner nations," he added.
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Indian Navy officials point out that the success shows Kochi is emerging as a preferred global hub for maritime training, thanks to its professional expertise and state-of-the-art infrastructure. Capt Rahul Panwar, Officer-in-Charge, Navigation Direction School, Indian Navy, said, "since Indian is at the helm of CTF 154, we are undertaking training at Southern Naval Command. The premium training is about navigation at sea."
Participants trained in maritime information sharing, counter-narcotics, force protection, asymmetric threats and uncrewed systems. They used advanced simulators for ship handling, navigation, damage control and firefighting, and some joined operational training aboard an Indian naval vessel.
Cmde Andrew Dowling of the Royal New Zealand Navy described the exercise as "incredibly important… in a busy and contested environment". Cdr Melissa Desjardins of the Royal Canadian Navy called the simulations "great" and the overall experience "a great experience". Cmde Dan Thomas, Royal Navy deputy commander of CTF-154, said it was "a fantastic opportunity to bond".
The programme generated about 3,800 training man-hours. In an increasingly tense maritime world, exercises like this matter. They turn separate navies into teams that can work together when it counts, protecting vital shipping lanes that carry much of the world's trade.
