Indian Navy ships Shivalik and Kadmat arrive in Brunei to take forward bilateral ties

In compliance with India’s Act East Policy, Indian Naval Ships Shivalik and Kadmat arrived at Muara, Brunei today as part of their deployment to South East Asia. During their stay at Muara, Brunei, the crew of both the ships will take part in various bilateral professional interactions with the Royal Brunei Navy.

The exercise will provide an opportunity to the navies of both countries to enhance interoperability, benefit from best practices and develop a common understanding for maritime security operations. The port interactions and maritime exercises are aimed at further strengthening the close ties shared by the two navies. This exercise will prove to be another step towards further strengthening India-Brunei defense ties. This bilateral exercise will conclude with a ‘Passage’ exercise with the Royal Brunei Navy at sea on 12 August 2021.

In the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, all interactions and exercises will be conducted as non-contact activities, hence maintaining a certain distance between the personnel of both the navies participating in the exercise will be observed.

The Indian Navy’s Shivalik and Kadmat are the latest indigenously designed and built, Multi-Purpose Guided Missile Stealth Frigate and Anti-Submarine Corvette ships, which are part of the Eastern Fleet of the Indian Navy based at Visakhapatnam under the Eastern Naval Command. Both ships are equipped with a versatile array of weapons and sensors. These can carry multi-role helicopters and show the maturity of India’s warship-building capabilities.

On completion of the bilateral exercise with the Royal Brunei Navy, the two ships will visit Guam to participate in the MALABAR-21 exercise with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and United States Navy (USN).