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U.S. Navy to join India and Japan in Malabar 2015

By Ryan Maass
The Malabar military exercises have historically involved the U.S. and India with Japan sitting is an an observer. Japan will now be a permanent participant beginning in 2015. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy.
The Malabar military exercises have historically involved the U.S. and India with Japan sitting is an an observer. Japan will now be a permanent participant beginning in 2015. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy.

CHENNAI, India, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Navies from the U.S., India, and Japan will participate in naval military exercise Malabar 2015 beginning on Wednesday.

Malabar is a complex military exercise that has traditionally been held by the U.S. and India with Japanese forces sitting in as observers. Japan will now be a permanent participant as the country embraces more activist military policies, according to Defense News. The exercises test high-end warfighting and promote maritime cooperation between the participants.

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Participants will practice both land and at-sea skills, including carrier strike group operations, maritime patrol, reconnaissance operations, medical operations, and a number of others. The sea portion of the exercise will take place off the coast of India.

The events are designed to improve military-to-military coordination and execution of tactical operations across land and sea platforms.

For the exercise, the U.S. Navy will commit the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, the guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy, the littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth, and a Los Angeles-Class fast-attack submarine. The Navy will also bring a P-8A Poseidon aircraft.

The Indian Navy will bring a Rajput-class destroyer, Brahmaputra-class and Shivalik-class frigates, a Kilo-class submarine INS Sindhudhwaj, and an additional fleet support ship.

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Japanese naval forces will bring only an Akizuki-class guided missile destroyer, JS Fuyuzuki.

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