THE NINTH edition of the India-Sri Lanka bilateral maritime exercise SLINEX is underway at Visakhapatnam with an aim to enhance interoperability and improve mutual understanding between the navies of the two neighbouring countries in the strategically significant Indian Ocean Region, Trend reports citing The Indian Express.
SLINEX (Sri Lanka–India Naval Exercise) is being conducted in two phases. The first one, the harbour phase at Visakhapatnam on March 7 and 8, followed by the sea phase on March 9 and 10 in the Bay of Bengal.
Sri Lanka Navy is being represented by SLNS Sayurala, an advanced offshore patrol vessel and the Indian Navy by INS Kirch, a guided missile corvette.
SLINEX aims to enhance interoperability, improve mutual understanding and also exchange best practices and procedures for multi-faceted maritime operations between both navies. The harbour phase includes professional, cultural, sporting and social exchanges. Exercises during sea phase will include surface and anti-air weapon firing exercises, seamanship evolutions, aviation operations including cross-deck flying, advanced tactical manoeuvres and special forces operations at sea.
In the second week of February, Pune hosted the ninth edition of the Army to Army Staff Talks (AAST) between delegations from the Indian Army and Sri Lankan Army held with an aim to bolster bilateral defence ties between two countries.
Another annual feature of India-Sri Lanka military exercise is Mitra Shakti. Two years after its 7th edition was held at Foreign Training Node in Pune in 2019, the 8th edition of India-Sri Lanka bilateral Joint Exercise, Mitra Shakti was conducted at Combat Training School, Ampara in Sri Lanka in October last year. The aim of the exercise is to promote close relations between armies of both the countries and enhance inter-operability and sharing best practices in counter insurgency and counter terrorism operations.