India and Russia launched 14th edition of their bilateral naval exercise, ‘INDRA’ 2025, a six-day event off the coast of Chennai. This exercise focuses on enhancing interoperability and coordinated maritime operations through a series of sophisticated drills and live weapon firings.
About INDRA 2025
Duration & Location: Six-day exercise conducted off the coast of Chennai.
Phases of the Exercise: The exercise is being conducted in two phase:
- Harbour Phase: It includes Opening Ceremony and Subject Matter Expert Exchanges (SMEEs). Reciprocal ship visits, sports fixtures, and discussions on coordinated sea operations.
- Sea Phase: Engagement in complex tactical manoeuvres, live weapon firings, anti-air operations, underway replenishment, helicopter cross-deck landings, and exchange of sea-riders.
Participating Vessels:
- Russian Navy: Ships Pechanga, Rezkiy, and Aldar Tsydenzhapov.
- Indian Navy: Warships Rana and Kuthar, along with the maritime patrol aircraft P8I.
Operational Focus:
- Strengthening interoperability between the two navies.
- Conducting joint drills on both air and surface targets to address contemporary maritime challenges.
Strategic and Historical Context:
Longstanding Partnership: Since its inception in 2003, Exercise Indra has epitomized the strategic naval relationship between India and Russia. It evolved into a symbol of maritime cooperation and operational synergy.
Defence Ties: India -Russia defence cooperation is guided by IRIGC-M&MTC mechanism, with high-level meetings between Defence Ministers of both nations. 20th IRIGC-M&MTC was held in December 2021.
Naval Exercise: They are part of broader India-Russia defence cooperation, which includes:
- Participation in multilateral exercises such as Vostok 2022.
- Bilateral projects involving advanced systems like: S-400, T-90 tanks, Su-30 MKI, MiG-29, Kamov helicopters, INS Vikramaditya, AK-203 rifles, and BrahMos missiles.
Significance:
Enhanced Maritime Coordination: The exercise aims to improve joint operational capabilities and strengthen tactical coordination to address evolving security challenges in the maritime domain.
Global Defence Collaboration: ‘INDRA’ 2025 reinforces the commitment of both nations to joint research, development, and production of advanced defence technology and systems, moving beyond a traditional buyer-seller framework to more integrated military technical cooperation.