War games end in Indian Ocean

Time to to the Lessons Learned and get ready for the next exercise - as set out in Navies take stock as Indian Ocean war games end:

Nearly 30 ships, 200 fighter jets and a nuclear-powered submarine participated in the event to practice anti-piracy and anti-gun-running drills off the Andaman island chain.

"It was one hell of a bang and a super experience," said the pilot of an US F-16 jet, recalling a low-level "attack" he carried out with one of India's participating Russian-built supersonic fighter jets.

Panama Canal Exercises

Speaking of protecting sea lines of communication, an exercise concerning the Panama Canal is practicing just that, as reported in Exercise designed to protect Panama Canal from terrorism, natural disaster:

Military planners from 16 countries and four observer nations are preparing for the worst at the Panama Canal -- and the worst may actually take place in the form of Hurricane Felix.

It’s an exercise called “Fuerzas Aliada Panamax 2007, sponsored by the U.S. Southern command and the government of Panama. It is focused on ensuring the security of the Panama Canal both from the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Oceana, in the event of a terrorist crisis or a natural disaster.

More than 30 vessels, including the Norfolk based amphibious assault ship USS Wasp, and the guided missile destroyer USS Mitscher are involved, along with a dozen aircraft and 7,000 military and civilian personnel.

Exercise Malabar begins

Reported as Five-nation naval exercise begins:

The navies of the United States, Australia, India, Japan and Singapore have begun a massive naval exercise, codenamed "Malabar", in the Bay of Bengal.

Thirty-four ships and submarines from the five countries have joined the six-day exercise, about 100 nautical miles off the Andaman archipelago.

Some analysts say the war games are an attempt by these countries to contain China's growing power.

The participants deny this, but Beijing has expressed its concerns.

"This will perhaps be the biggest ever peace-time joint naval exercise in Asia," Indian navy spokesman Captain Vinay Garg said.
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Two super-carriers of the US navy - USS Nimitz and USS Kitty Hawk of the Pacific fleet - will be joined by India's lone aircraft carrier, the INS Viraat, in the exercise.

A US nuclear submarine, USS Chicago, is also taking part.

India has denied claims that the exercise is aimed at China. "This is simply directed at ensuring security of the sea lanes of communication," Deputy Defence Minister Pallam Raju said.

The six-day exercise has been fiercely opposed by India's left-wing parties, who see it as "India's growing subservience" to the US.

Also covered here:

A total of 27 ships and submarines from the United States, Australia, Japan and Singapore joined seven from India in the Bay of Bengal, at the northwestern entrance to the Malacca Strait, for the six-day exercises.
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Some 160 fighter planes backed by reconnaissance aircraft, will be constantly in the air during the wargames.

The exercises will also touch the Malacca Strait, a 805-kilometre channel between Malaysia and Sumatra that accounts for 60 per cent of the world's maritime energy transport.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, across the Indian Ocean, another naval exercise reported here:

It is the first time that South Africa's new submarine and two of the four new frigates -- the SAS Amatola and the SAS Isandlwana -- have been involved in a combined exercise.

Other South African Navy ships as well as aircraft of the South African Air Force will also be involved in taking on Nato's Maritime Group One.

Besides the Portuguese, frigates from Canada and The Netherlands as well as ships from Germany, the United States and Denmark also form part of the Nato flotilla.

The Nato group is travelling around the African continent making port calls at several African nations, but it is only with the SA Navy that it is conducting full naval exercises.

"It is expected that these exercises will inspire mutual confidence and respect between Nato maritime forces and the South African Navy, allowing for even greater cooperation in possible future combined exercises or operations," a Nato statement on the exercise explains.

"The deployment aims to demonstrate the alliance's continuing ability to respond to emerging crisis situations on a global scale and foster close links with regional navies and other maritime organisations," Nato said.

But while the exercise might have a conventional naval warfare flavour to it, it also includes boarding of ships and other exercises that would help the South Africans and Nato cope with the real threat in African waters these days.

Piracy, armed robbery and terrorism activities on the high seas are increasingly becoming a threat.

The International Maritime Bureau reports that piracy and armed robbery increased by 37% in the second quarter of 2007 compared with that of 2006.

The total number of attacks in the first six months of 2007 was 126, many in African waters.

In Nigeria, 19 incidents have been reported, including the boarding of 15 vessels and one hijacking. Forty crew members were kidnapped and 24 taken hostage.

In Somalia, 17 incidents were reported. Eight vessels were hijacked and 85 crew members taken hostage.

Another sign of the increasing importance of a security operation in African waters comes from the US Navy, which plans from 2008 to have a "big-deck" presence in the Gulf of Guinea.

"My aspiration is to have a ship there 365 days a year," said Admiral Harry Ulrich, commander of US Naval Forces Europe and Africa.

The South African Navy has long held the position that its new fleet would be used for anti-piracy and anti-poaching operations.

The training with Nato is its first big joint operation to discover how this might be carried out

UPDATE: For "pk" the arrow points to the Gulf of Guinea. You know, where all that oil from Nigeria heads out to sea...(click on the map to enlarge)

China in the Indian Ocean

A couple of articles discussing the Chinese thrust into the Indian Ocean, starting with China: Boosting Maritime Capabilities in the Indian Ocean:

In the recent years, a new great game has begun between India and China to bring the Maldives and Sri Lanka under their respective sphere of influence in the Indian Ocean Region (I.O.R.). After Myanmar and Bangladesh, to complete the "arc of influence" in South Asia, China is determined to enhance military and economic cooperation with the Maldives and Sri Lanka. China's ambition to build a naval base at Marao in the Maldives, its recent entry into the oil exploration business in Sri Lanka, the development of port and bunker facilities at Hambantota, the strengthening military cooperation and boosting bilateral trade with Colombo, are all against Indian interests and ambitions in the region.

Although China claims that its bases are only for securing energy supplies to feed its growing economy, the Chinese base in the Maldives is motivated by Beijing's determination to contain and encircle India and thereby limit the growing influence of the Indian Navy in the region. The Marao base deal was finalized after two years of negotiations, when Chinese Prime minister Zhu Rongzi visited Male' in May 2001. Once Marao comes up as the new Chinese "pearl," Beijing's power projection in the Indian Ocean would be augmented.

Recently, Sri Lanka allocated an exploration block in the Mannar Basin to China for petroleum exploration. This allocation would connote a Chinese presence just a few miles from India's southern tip, thus causing strategic discomfort. In economic terms, it could also mean the end of the monopoly held by Indian oil companies in this realm, putting them into direct and stiff competition from Chinese oil companies. At Hambantota, on the southern coast of Sri Lanka where Beijing is building bunkering facilities and an oil tank farm. This infrastructure will help service hundreds of ships that traverse the sea lanes of commerce off Sri Lanka. The Chinese presence in Hambantota would be another vital element in its strategic circle already enhanced through its projects in Pakistan, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

It is Sri Lanka's strategic location that has prompted Beijing to aim for a strategic relationship with Colombo. Beijing is concerned about the growing United States presence in the region as well as about increasing Indo-U.S. naval cooperation in the Indian Ocean. China looks at using the partnership with Sri Lanka to enhance its influence over strategic sea lanes of communication from Europe to East Asia and oil tanker routes from the Middle East to the Malacca Straits. China has been consolidating its access to the Indian Ocean through the Karakoram Highway and Karachi, through the China-Burma road to Burmese ports and through the Malacca Straits, especially once they have established their supremacy over the South China Sea.

China's Indian Ocean policy has been clearly influenced by its ties with the other major powers. Its interest in the Indian Ocean started partly as a reaction to its perception that increasing United States presence there was aimed at encircling China. The policy has also been directly linked to its problems with New Delhi. China feels India is facilitating the American presence in the Indian Ocean region as a means of countering Beijing.

And following with Wary of Beijing, US views India as a 'natural partner':

Wary of China's long-term intentions and its rapidly expanding military capabilities, the US sees India as a 'natural partner' in the region and is keen to further enhance 'interoperability' with the Indian armed forces.
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Beijing has already expressed its anger at what it feels is an emerging quadrilateral strategic arrangement - as exemplified by the Malabar naval war games scheduled between September 4-9 in the Bay of Bengal - to ‘contain’ it in the Asia-Pacific region.

In the backdrop of vitriolic protests by the Left against the Indo-US civil nuclear deal as well as the Malabar exercise, the UPA government chose to keep Admiral Keating's visit a low-profile one.

But the US four-star general, who commands all American forces in Asia-Pacific, was more forthcoming. While admitting Malabar was a reflection of the "shared interests" of US, India, Japan and Australia, he said, "We want to minimise the potential areas of misunderstanding and confusion between all of us and China."

"Let me emphasise there is no effort on our part or any of these other countries to isolate China or put Beijing in a closet," Admiral Keating told reporters.