Joint exercise of India-Japan successful

Chennai: SAHYOG-KAIJIN-XV, a joint exercise between Indian and Japanese Coast Guard teams, was successfully conducted in the Bay of Bengal,  at 22 nautical miles north east of Chennai on Friday.

This exercise which is part of the ongoing joint exercises between the Coast Guards of the two countries, is being conducted for the past 15 years.

Meanwhile, this is the second time in three months that a ship from the Japanese military forces participated in a military exercise along with India. The exercise was aimed at fine-tuning co-ordination between the forces.

The highlights of the exercise encompassed a scenario of the hijacking of a merchant vessel and its subsequent rescue in a joint coast guard operation of both countries. Operation of Indian Coast Guard helicopters from Japan Coast Guard Ship and vice versa, Cross Deck Landing, Interdiction of Pirate Vessel, Cross Boarding, Sar Demonstration and External Fire Fighting were the other highlights.

The coast guard ships and aircraft also demonstrated their prowess before the Japanese delegation. Finally, the exercise culminated with an impressive stream past by the ships and fly past by the aircraft wherein the crew of the participating units saluted the DG ICG and Vice Commandant JCG.

The exercise was co-ordinated and conducted under the overall supervision of the Inspector General S.P Sharma, Commander, Coast Guard Region (East), who said, “India-Japan Global partnership has now developed into a strategic and global partnership. The Japanese archipelago and Indian sub-continent are exposed to almost similar security and political scenarios and both have an extensive and diverse maritime challenges.”. Adding that the bilateral memorandum of cooperation between the JCG ( Japan Coast Guard)  and ICG ( Indian Coast Guard ) has paved the way for enhanced interactions between the two he said “ it will also help to get an insight on each other’s operations and capabilities.”